RAMALLAH, 20 March, 2021 (TON): On Saturday, Palestine stepped up its preparations for their first parliamentary election in 15 years by opening registration offices to admit the political parties and independent candidates that will join.

The May 22 election in the West Bank and Gaza is part of a broader push for reconciliation between President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction and rival Islamist group Hamas as it is seen as important in support for any future statehood talks with Israel that were frozen since 2014.

The Palestinian officials said, “Israel has yet to respond to a Palestinian request to allow balloting to take place in East Jerusalem.”

Farid Taamallah, a spokesman of the Palestinian Central Election Commission, said on Saturday that officials had so far registered two electoral lists. Registration ends on March 31.

Reports stated that some 93% of the 2.8 million eligible voters in the West Bank and Gaza have registered for the polling and the total population in the Palestinian territories is 5.2 million.