RAMALLAH, West Bank, July 26 (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday he would decree a change in Palestinian electoral rules that might make it harder for Hamas Islamists to maintain the parliamentary majority they won last year.

However, pressed to say whether the early elections that he has promised would be held as soon as this year, Abbas told Reuters he could not set a date yet. Nor could he yet say whether he would run himself for re-election as president.

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