GAZA, Nov. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- A senior representative of the Islamic Resistance movement (Hamas) called on Tuesday to hold general elections together with the presidential elections in January.Mahmoud Azzahar made the remarks after a two-hour meeting withthe PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas, or Abu Mazen.

    "The presidential elections are divided and illegal and shouldbe held with general elections," Azzahar said.

    "Holding only presidential elections is a continuation of the Oslo agreement that Hamas rejects and which is over and expired,"Azzahar said.

    However, Azzahar noted that Hamas reached agreements with Abu Mazen to "continue meetings in the future and prepare working papers until a unified position is achieved to save the Palestinian people from the coming dangerous stage."

    The presidential elections were scheduled to take place on Jan.9, 2005, which would choose a leader to formally succeed the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died on Nov. 11 in a military hospital outside Paris.

    The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Speaker Rawhi Fattouh was named as the interim Palestinian National Authority (PNA) president until the elections. Enditem