Dr. Salah Bardawil, spokesman for the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc, said that the municipal elections in the West Bank do not serve unity but rather promote division. Bardawil said that West Bank's elections violated the reconciliation agreement which had set priorities more important than municipal elections; such as the reformulation and activation of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the formation of a national unity government to oversee the local, legislative and presidential elections. He said in a press statement on Saturday: "We emphasize that the municipal elections held in the West Bank are futile and do not adhere to any form of democracy under the state of repression, persecution and political arrests against members of Hamas and university students in West Bank." The Hamas leading figure stressed that his movement would not recognize the elections and their results.