Abbas postpones Palestinian elections, sets presidential poll for September 2027

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday canceled legislative elections scheduled for November, blaming worsening conditions within the Palestinian territories, and set a date of September 11, 2027, for both presidential and legislative elections, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

Abbas’s decree cited “obstacles posed by Israeli measures” to holding elections in November and the need to establish suitable political, security and on-the-ground conditions for “free, fair and inclusive elections.” It called on Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza to participate in the polls.

There had been serious doubts that the Palestinian Authority vote would go ahead in late November. The Palestinians have not held legislative or presidential elections since 2005-06, after which Abbas’s rivals in the terrorist group ​Hamas seized control of Gaza, ousting his loyalists.

The decree said Israeli military attacks, settlement expansion, settler violence and movement restrictions in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, along with Israel’s continued withholding of Palestinian tax revenues, created challenges to preparing for and holding elections on the previous date.

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

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

The decision to postpone followed a resolution by the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee and consultations with Palestinian factions and political forces. It also aimed to allow time for a comprehensive Palestinian national dialogue to strengthen unity and address challenges facing the electoral process.

Abbas has on numerous occasions over the years announced plans to hold elections, only to later delay or cancel them, citing various problems and often blaming Israeli restrictions.

His ruling Fatah party, seen as corrupt and ineffective on the Palestinian street, is widely expected to take a beating in any democratic voting process.

But rival groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad were supportive of the latest delay.

A top official with the Gaza-based PIJ terror group said Thursday that the factions had reached an agreement to delay the vote.

Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said the scheduled elections had been premature.

PA Vice President Hussein Al Sheikh recently sent a letter informing France of the expected delay. As part of its decision to recognize a Palestinian state in September 2025, Paris had urged that the planned legislative and presidential elections proceed, a written commitment that Abbas had made to President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, France’s foreign ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux said it was essential for the elections to take place and hailed the launch of an EU mission to observe the elections.

“These elections will enable the Palestinian leadership to champion its people’s legitimate aspirations with renewed legitimacy, while preserving the two-state solution,” he said.

In the more than two decades since Abbas was elected as the successor to Fatah founder Yasser Arafat, the PA’s public standing has ‌sunk among Palestinians.

In 2007, the PA was driven out of the Gaza Strip by Hamas, which had won an election there on an anti-corruption platform. Abbas has ruled by decree since his mandate expired in 2009.