Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree on Saturday canceling legislative elections scheduled for November 28, 2026, and setting presidential and legislative elections for September 11, 2027, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The new decree calls on Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip to participate in “free and direct elections to elect the Palestinian president and members of the Palestinian Legislative Council simultaneously, in accordance with the law,” WAFA said.
This follows consultations among Palestinian factions, political forces, and the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
The Executive Committee reached a consensus, deciding that Israeli measures in the West Bank and Gaza posed a significant obstacle to holding elections at the previously scheduled date, WAFA explained, adding that the postponement is to allow for the establishment of “suitable political, security and field conditions for free, fair and inclusive elections.”
WAFA cited Israeli military attacks, settlement expansion, settler violence, restrictions on freedom of movement, and the withholding of Palestinian revenues.
PA vice president reportedly informed France of election postponement
The WAFA report follows Palestinian Vice President Hussein Al Sheikh informing France of election postponements, citing worsening conditions across the Palestinian territories, according to a Thursday-dated letter addressed to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot seen by Reuters.
“The assessment concluded that the anticipated political, security and economic conditions, on which the scheduling of the legislative elections for November 28, 2026, was based, have not materialized,” the letter said. “Holding them (the legislative elections) under the current circumstances faces fundamental obstacles affecting their inclusiveness, freedom of participation, and the integrity of the electoral process.”
