Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has announced that legislative\nelections will be postponed until September 2027, confirming widespread\nspeculation that the vote would be delayed again.<\/p>\n
The legislative election, the first since 2006, had been scheduled\nfor 28 November this year, while the presidential election was expected\nto take place in early 2027. The international community has strongly\nurged the Palestinians to hold elections.<\/p>\n
Abbas made the decision in a new decree, the Palestinian news agency\nWAFA reported, according to AFP on Monday (12 October 2026). Both\nelections \u2014 legislative and presidential \u2014 will now be held on 11\nSeptember 2027.<\/p>\n
In his decree, Abbas blamed unspecified \u201cobstacles\u201d on the Israeli\nside.<\/p>\n
In a separate statement, the Palestinian presidency said the delay\nwas due to \u201cobstacles arising from Israeli measures\u2026 as well as the need\nto create adequate political and security conditions and conditions on\nthe ground\u201d.<\/p>\n
Israel, which is also due to hold an election on 27 October, strongly\ncondemned Abbas, calling him a \u201ccorrupt dictator\u201d over the\npostponement.<\/p>\n
Abbas\u2019s decision drew criticism from Palestinians. Abu Amin Joudeh, a\nrefugee from Gaza, said Palestinians wanted to vote and choose their\nrepresentatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know the situation here is difficult because of the war and all\nthe destruction, but how long will the elections keep being postponed?\u201d\nasked Joudeh, who now lives in Deir al-Balah, in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n
Israel denies obstructing the Palestinian election\nprocess<\/strong><\/p>\n This week, the Palestinian Authority, based in Ramallah in the West\nBank, said Israel had refused to grant Palestinian election officials\naccess to East Jerusalem or Gaza ahead of the legislative vote.<\/p>\n Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar denied that Israel was\nobstructing the election process.<\/p>\n \u201cAbbas\u2019s attempt to drag Israel into this matter by falsely claiming\nthat Israel is preventing the elections is yet another ridiculous lie,\ndesigned to evade responsibility and accountability,\u201d Saar said in a\nstatement on social media platform X.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a source told AFP that Palestinian factions, including\nAbbas\u2019s Fatah and its longtime rival Hamas, which controls Gaza, had\nagreed to the postponement at a meeting in Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday (7\nOctober).<\/p>\n Holding elections is part of the reforms demanded of the Palestinian\nAuthority by the international community, including the European Union.\nThe last legislative elections in the Palestinian territories were held\nin 2006, when Hamas defeated Fatah, which had dominated the Palestinian\nAuthority.<\/p>\n The divisions that followed triggered a series of clashes between the\nfactions. Hamas eventually seized control of the Gaza Strip, leaving it\npolitically separated from the West Bank, which is controlled by\nFatah.<\/p>\n As a result, the Palestinian Legislative Council, which serves as the\nPalestinian Authority\u2019s parliament, has not met since 2007.<\/p>\n Abbas won the last Palestinian presidential election in 2005, and his\nterm was supposed to end in 2009. He has continued to govern through the\nissuance of decrees.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/palestinian-president-delays-elections-until-september-2027-why-1791795202",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}