Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has postponed legislative elections scheduled for next month until September 11, 2027, and set the same date for a presidential election, citing Israeli restrictions and worsening security conditions in the Palestinian territories.
According to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, Abbas’ decree said Israeli actions and the need to establish suitable political and security conditions made it difficult to guarantee free, fair and inclusive elections.
The decree cited Israeli military operations, settlement expansion, settler violence and movement restrictions in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It also pointed to Israel’s continued withholding of Palestinian tax revenues as an obstacle to preparations.
In Gaza, the decree highlighted the humanitarian crisis, the incomplete withdrawal of Israeli forces, limited progress on reconstruction and delays in implementing arrangements for international stabilisation forces and police.
Abbas also cited restrictions on access for election commission staff and international observers to Gaza and East Jerusalem, calling on Palestinians across Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza to participate when elections are held.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar rejected Abbas’ explanation, describing it as a false excuse to avoid responsibility. He noted that Palestinians had not held a presidential election in about two decades.
The postponement followed consultations among Palestinian political factions. Two Palestinian officials previously told Reuters that representatives of Abbas’ Fatah movement and its rival, Hamas, had agreed to delay the vote during a meeting in Cairo.
Palestinians have not held presidential elections since 2005 or legislative elections since 2006. Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 after violent clashes with forces loyal to Fatah, deepening the political division between the territories.
Abbas has continued governing by decree since his presidential mandate expired in 2009.
The Palestinian Authority held municipal elections in April in parts of the West Bank and Deir al Balah in central Gaza. The vote marked the first election in Gaza since 2006.
The latest postponement comes weeks after Abbas reaffirmed the November election timetable in an address to the United Nations General Assembly on September 24, as he sought to advance internationally backed reforms.
Abbas had also pledged 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 elections were essential and welcomed the launch of a European Union election observation mission.
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