BAKU, October 29 (RIA Novosti) - Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said on Thursday the Islamist movement Hamas is afraid to participate in Palestinian presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for January 2010.

The statement came following a meeting between al-Maliki and his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mamedyarov. Al-Maliki is on a two-day official visit to Azerbaijan which ends Friday.

"We hope the elections will take place at the set time. If Hamas accepts, this means they want to come to power legally. If not, then they are afraid of the election results," al-Maliki said.

On Wednesday, Hamas said Palestinians in the Gaza Strip must not take part in the January 24 elections scheduled by President Mahmoud Abbas or face persecution.

On Friday, the Palestinian National Authority leader, who heads the rival Fatah party controlling the West Bank, signed a decree to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in three months for Palestinian residents of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. He accused Hamas of delaying the signing of an Egypt-mediated reconciliation deal which would have set the ballots for June 28, 2010.

A document to reconcile the two largest Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, was put forward by Cairo in early September. In the summer of 2007, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip and pushed Fatah out of the enclave.

Hamas said Abbas's call for the elections was illegal as it had not been agreed upon with the group, and the president's term formally expired in January 2009.

The Palestinian foreign minister told journalists after the meeting with Mamedyarov the date of Palestinian elections was set by Mahmoud Abbas in accordance with the country's constitution.