Palestinian re-run vote delayed

GAZA - A re-run of some Palestinian town elections set for today has been postponed, defusing a boycott threat by Hamas militants that raised fears of strife with President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party.

The Palestinian local elections committee said on Tuesday it had put off the re-run "until further notice", heeding a proposal from Fatah for easing tensions with Hamas that could potentially undermine Abbas's agenda for peacemaking with Israel.

Hamas, a rising Islamist movement furious over the annulment of its May 5 election victories in three large Gaza towns after court challenges by Fatah, said it would reconsider whether to take part in the re-run after the committee decision.

Hamas rejected the court rulings based on Fatah allegations of fraud -- no evidence of this was found by foreign monitors -- but had signalled it could accept a rerun if it were put off by a month to allow time for steps to ensure the vote was fair.

Hamas and Fatah are also at loggerheads over the likely postponement of a July 17 parliamentary election in which Hamas was poised to do well.

Abbas wants Hamas, which is sworn to destroying Israel, to enter mainstream politics in hopes of solidifying a tenuous three-month-old ceasefire with the Jewish state and broadening his domestic mandate for Middle East peace talks.

A Hamas election boycott would be a serious setback for Abbas. The Islamist militants are abiding by the ceasefire he engineered but the deal hinged partly on his promise of more power-sharing via elections.

- REUTERS