Hamas 'will work with Abbas'

The Palestinian opposition group Hamas announced today that it will work with the new Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, despite misgivings about what it said were voting irregularities.

The Islamic militant group boycotted yesterday’s vote and urged supporters to stay away, but did not try to disrupt the election.

A Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said today that “we are going to deal with the elected president despite our boycott of this election”.

Even before the vote, Abbas was meeting with leaders of rival Palestinian factions to persuade them to halt attacks on Israel and reach a power-sharing agreement.

Most militants signalled they are willing to halt attacks, but negotiations on sharing power, including Hamas representation in the PLO, failed.

Hamas complained about what it said were voting irregularities, including a decision by the Central Election Commission to extend voting by two hours and allow non-registered voters to participate.

One election official said the changes were made under heavy pressure from Abbas’ ruling Fatah movement, which feared a low turnout would hurt their candidate.