Palestinian militant group Hamas has announced it will take part in parliamentary elections due in July.
Its involvement, announced by a Hamas leader in the West Bank, could prove a major challenge for the Fatah party of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas beat Fatah - the traditional party of power founded and led by the late Yasser Arafat - convincingly in municipal elections earlier this year.
It was the first time the group had taken part in the political process.
"Hamas has decided to take part in the Palestinian legislative council election this summer," a Hamas leader, Mohammad Ghazal, told a press conference in the West Bank town of Nablus.
The decision, which was expected, shows that the group is intent on moving into mainstream democratic politics, says the BBC's Alan Johnson in Gaza.
Election success
Hamas has spent years building up a considerable following.
It operates a social programme, like building schools, hospitals and religious institutions, as well a military wing that has been behind many of the suicide bomb attacks against Israelis.
The group refused to take part in the first Palestinian elections in 1996 or in the race against Mahmoud Abbas for the leadership of the Palestinian authority in January.
But Hamas enjoyed ballot box success in January, when it won landslide victories in seven out of nine municipalities in local elections in Gaza.
It easily beat Fatah, which has been badly tainted in the eyes of many Palestinians by the corruption and failures of the ruling establishment, says our correspondent.
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