Ramallah, Dec 10 (IANS): Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accepted the resignation of Hanan Ashrawi, the member of the Executive Committee of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a state media report said.

President Abbas accepted Ashrawi's resignation on Wednesday "upon her request after she submitted an official resignation letter a few days ago", Xinhua news agency quoted the report as saying.

Ashrawi did not reveal the reasons for her resignation.

"The time has come for real reform in our official institutions and the PLO, to revive them and respect their powers so that the truth is the title of official political decision-making for everyone," she said.

Ashrawi added that "the time has come to practice democracy, hold general elections, and reach true national unity through the practice of democracy".

She had been a member of the Executive Committee of the PLO since 2009 and was re-elected to the group in 2018.

The development comes ahead of the Palestinian general elections scheduled to be held February and March 2021.

They were originally scheduled to be held in April and October 2014 in accordance with the Fatah–Hamas Gaza Agreement of April 2014.

However, the elections were then delayed indefinitely.