TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi in a press conference in Amman announced the country’s readiness to dispatch a team of observers to help monitor the Palestinian Election.

She conveyed her intentions during her meeting with the Palestinian Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Minister Riyad Al Maliki in Amman, Jordan on February 10.

Minister Retno also welcomed the election plans of the Palestinians that is set to be held in May and July as this would mark the first democratic election after 15 years. She also said to Al Maliki that Palestine’s unity and solidity remains to be the utmost goal ahead of the election.

Reported by Reuters on January 16, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced parliamentary and presidential elections on Friday, the first in 15 years, in an effort to heal the long-standing internal divisions.

According to a decree issued by Abbas’s office, the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, will hold legislative elections on May 22 and a presidential vote on July 31.

“The President instructed the election committee and all state apparatuses to launch a democratic election process in all cities of the homeland,” the decree said, referring to the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

Read: Indonesia Pledges US$2.3 Million in Aid for Palestine

AHMAD FAIZ IBNU SANI