Abbas sets election date

PALESTINIAN President Mahmoud Abbas has set May 4 as the date for general elections meant to end a long-standing rift that has left his people divided between rival governments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The Palestinians have been split since Hamas militants over-ran Gaza in 2007. Hamas controls Gaza, while Abbas’s Palestinian Authority governs the West Bank.

Abbas, on a state visit to Austria, had previously mentioned May as the likely month for the vote but this was the first time that he set a specific date.