Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has postponed legislative elections that had been expected next month, setting a new date of Sept. 11, 2027, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. Presidential elections, not held since Abbas won in 2005, are also scheduled for that date.
The delay extends a long gap between elections. Palestinians last voted for the legislature in 2006, when Hamas won a majority. A subsequent period of unrest ended with Hamas taking control of Gaza in 2007, while the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority continued to govern parts of the West Bank.
Palestinian officials pointed to conditions in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. The Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee said Israel had prevented election materials and international observers from entering Gaza, according to the Associated Press. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar rejected that claim and accused Abbas of shifting responsibility. Hamas endorsed the postponement and called for further discussions on rebuilding Palestinian institutions before elections.
The postponed vote had been expected amid discussions among Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and a faction associated with former Fatah security chief Mohammed Dahlan. A representative of Dahlan’s faction said Abbas feared an alliance among opposition groups and Fatah figures opposed to his leadership; that assertion was not independently established in the supplied reporting.
The decision comes as the Palestinian Authority’s potential role in Gaza remains unsettled under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire plan reached the previous year. The source report said Hamas continued to govern Gaza, while a committee of Palestinian technocrats was in Cairo awaiting permission to enter and oversee a transition.
The account includes conflicting claims about why the election was postponed. The source material does not independently resolve those claims.
