Abbas is shocked results of Fatah primaries

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday he'll honor results of Fatah primaries conducted in the West Bank, but has not decided whether voting should resume in other areas. On Monday, primaries in the Gaza Strip were canceled after gunmen disrupted voting at several polling stations, amid allegations of irregularities. "Elections have been done in some places, and we deal with that in a positive way," Abbas said after returning from a trip to Spain.

Some Fatah officials said earlier Tuesday that Abbas ordered voting suspended, but his aides denied this. Primaries for Fatah's parliament list went ahead in Jerusalem on Tuesday, and Fatah officials said the vote would also be held, as planned, in the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday.

In the Gaza Strip, top Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan said a new primary should be arranged there."The (Gaza) violations cannot be used as a pretex to cancel the elections," Dahlan told reporters. "The election should take place. The only way out of this dilemma is to hold the election. Maybe we are running out of time, but there is still a chance to hold elections."

Dahlan, seen as a top vote getter in Gaza, said Abbas should launch an investigation into what happened in Gaza. He said that some in Fatah apparently were trying to push Abbas to appoint candidates for the parliament list and to void the primaries, reports the AP. N.U.