RAMALLAH, October 11, 2026 — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has postponed what would have been the first Palestinian elections in nearly two decades, issuing a decree on Saturday that cancels legislative polls scheduled for November and sets combined presidential and parliamentary elections for September 11, 2027.
The decree, published by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, blames “obstacles posed by Israeli measures” for the delay and calls for suitable political, security and on-the-ground conditions to ensure “free, fair and inclusive elections” across Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
What the decree does
The postponed legislative vote — scheduled for November 28 — had been strongly advocated by the international community, including the European Union, as part of demanded reforms of the Palestinian Authority. A presidential vote had been expected in early 2027. Both will now be held together on a single date: September 11, 2027.
The Palestinians have not held legislative or presidential elections since 2005–06. Abbas, who won the last presidential election in 2005, has ruled by decree since his term expired in 2009. The last legislative vote in 2006 was won by Hamas, which went on to seize control of Gaza and oust Abbas’s loyalists.
The obstacles Abbas cites
The decree points to Israeli military attacks, settlement expansion, settler violence and movement restrictions in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, alongside Israel’s continued withholding of Palestinian tax revenues. In Gaza, it cites “exceptional security and humanitarian conditions,” the incomplete withdrawal of Israeli forces, stalled reconstruction and the failure to deploy international stabilisation forces and police.
Israeli restrictions on access for Palestinian election-commission staff and international observers to Gaza and East Jerusalem also complicated preparations, the decree said. Election commission head Jamil Al Khalidi had said this week that preparations were under way despite security, logistical and technical hurdles — including sourcing alternatives to traditional ballot boxes and voting ink, which Israel continues to block from entering Gaza.
Israel rejects the claim
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar dismissed Abbas’s explanation outright. “Yet another ridiculous lie designed to evade responsibility and accountability,” he said in a post on X, pointing to the two decades since the last Palestinian vote. Israel had earlier accused the Palestinian Authority of being “corrupt” over the anticipated delay.
Factions back the delay — critics cry foul
The postponement followed a resolution by the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s executive committee and consultations with Palestinian factions and political forces. The decree also calls for a comprehensive Palestinian national dialogue to strengthen unity ahead of the vote, following faction talks in Cairo this week.
Sources from several factions said the delay was mainly linked to holding that national dialogue and ending “Palestinian division” before going to the polls, regional media reported. But opponents of Abbas argue the postponement is intended to entrench his rule without allowing the public to decide. Palestinian analysts noted that Fatah figures fear internal divisions in the West Bank, new youth-led electoral slates, and the rising reformist faction around former Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan.
A shrinking window
The decision risks further eroding the Palestinian Authority’s credibility with ordinary Palestinians and the donor countries that fund it, observers said. Municipal elections held in April — the first vote in Gaza since 2006, limited to the West Bank and Deir al-Balah — offered little signal of a broader democratic opening.
Whether September 2027 brings the first Palestinian national vote in more than 20 years now depends on conditions Abbas’s decree describes as prerequisites — conditions that, analysts say, show little sign of improving.
