RAMALLAH, Jan. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Nabil Shaath on Tuesday slammed Hamas over its campaign for the legislative election due on Jan. 25, as the race is heated up.

   Shaath, who chairs the campaign of the ruling Fatah movement, told reporters in Ramallah that Hamas should present a program related to welfare, aid and employees' salaries.

   Shaath also accused Hamas of being the only Palestinian party that has not signed a document of honor with other factions and political groups, adding Hamas does not seek a fair and democratic election.

   He said it is not the first time that Hamas and Fatah are competing in election, but it is the first time for both parts to compete in legislative election that will end up with forming a new cabinet.

   Under the election law, the election campaign is held from Jan. 3 to Jan. 24, one day before the poll.

   A total of 400 candidates running in the coming election were divided into two groups -- one on lists for the election and the other in constituencies.

   The number of parliament members who should be elected is 132, compared with 88 elected in 1996.

   Fatah and Hamas are racing in the parliamentary election, the second since the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).

   Hamas started its campaign near the home of its late leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in Gaza City, while Fatah started its election campaign near the grave of late leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah.

   Yassin was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike in March 2004, while Arafat died on Nov. 11, 2004 of a mysterious disease in a hospital in France.

   Hamas refused to take part in the 1996 legislative election, saying that it was an outcome of the Oslo Peace Accord signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1993.

   But Hamas said that it decided to take part in the election this year, because the movement takes it as an important step to have a political partnership, carry out serious reforms and end chaos and corruption.

   Shaath told reporters that the Palestinian people will elect a new government representing all political groups.

   "The new cabinet would be the one that the Palestinian people could trust in and it would be able to negotiate in the future with the Israelis to decide the fate of the Palestinian cause," he said.

   But the election is still uncertain, because Israel refuses to allow approximately 220,000 Palestinians in east Jerusalem to vote. The Palestinians insist that east Jerusalem be the capital of an independent state.

   Israel claims all of the city as its capital and says interim peace accords ban Palestinian political activity in Jerusalem.

   Earlier, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the PNA is exerting intensive efforts through the quartet committee, which groups the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, to press Israel to accept the residents' participation.

   Many Fatah officials are trying to press Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to postpone the election. But sources close to Abbas said Abbas rejected all attempts to postpone the poll.

   "If the legislative election is postponed, there will be a disaster in the Palestinian territories, where chaos and violence would prevail," Erekat said.

   Hamas insists that the election be held on time.

   Ismail Haneya, a leading Hamas official, told reporters in Gaza that the issue of east Jerusalem residents' participation should not be an excuse to postpone the election.

   In the 1996 parliamentary election, Palestinians in east Jerusalem voted by absentee ballot in post offices. Enditem