Mahmoud Abbas Postpones Palestinian Elections Until September 2027

Reuters

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has postponed legislative elections scheduled for next month until 11 September 2027 and called for presidential elections to be held on the same date, citing Israeli restrictions and the security situation in the Palestinian territories.

A decree issued by Abbas cited “obstacles posed by Israeli measures” and the need to establish appropriate political, security and on-the-ground conditions for “free, fair and inclusive elections”, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

The decree called on Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza to participate in the elections.

There had been considerable uncertainty over whether the Palestinian Authority elections would proceed as planned next month. Palestinians have not held legislative elections since 2006 or a presidential election since 2005. Following the 2006 legislative vote, Abbas’s rival, the Islamist group Hamas, seized control of Gaza in 2007, ousting forces loyal to him.

Abbas has continued to govern by decree since his presidential mandate expired in 2009.

The Palestinian Authority held municipal elections in April in the West Bank and in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, the only city in the enclave to participate. The vote marked the first elections held in Gaza since 2006.

According to the decree, Israeli military operations, settlement expansion, settler violence and movement restrictions in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as well as Israel’s continued withholding of Palestinian tax revenues, had created obstacles to preparing for and holding the elections scheduled for November.

In Gaza, the decree cited “exceptional security and humanitarian conditions”, the incomplete withdrawal of Israeli forces, limited progress in reconstruction and the failure to implement arrangements for deploying international stabilisation forces and police.

Restrictions on access to Gaza and East Jerusalem for election commission staff and international observers had also complicated preparations, the decree said.

Israel generally prohibits the Palestinian Authority from holding elections in East Jerusalem, which it captured during the 1967 war and later annexed. The annexation is not recognised by most countries.

The postponement comes only weeks after Abbas reaffirmed the November election timetable in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on 24 September, as he sought to advance internationally backed reforms.

Abbas had also committed in writing to French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to hold presidential and legislative elections as part of efforts linked to France’s recognition of a Palestinian state in September 2025.

France’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that holding the elections was essential and welcomed the launch of an EU election observation mission.



PUKMEDIA