Hamas to Participate in Palestinian Elections, Calls It a 'Historic Opportunity'
Hamas will take part in Palestinian general elections at the end of this year under the broadest possible national coalition, said Hussam Badran, a member of the Palestinian organisation’s political bureau, on Wednesday (12/8).
In an interview with Al-Aqsa TV, Badran said Hamas, along with most Palestinian factions and political coalitions, rejects “political conditions or demands that election participants adopt a specific political programme”.
He stated that the Palestinian Central Elections Commission and the courts continue to work to “ensure the Palestinian people can freely choose the political programme they want”.
Badran described the upcoming election as a “historic opportunity” to transform the Palestinian political landscape and “end two decades of unilateral decision-making in national affairs”.
According to the Hamas politician, Palestinian elections should have been held long ago. He accused the Palestinian leadership of unilaterally setting the timing and procedures for the upcoming vote. He cited the 2006 and 2021 elections as examples of polls conducted in accordance with national consensus.
The Palestinian people, he said, have an “inherent right” to choose their leaders and political programmes through legislative elections in the Palestinian territories, or through elections for the Palestinian National Council, which he described as “a broader representative body for the Palestinian people”.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas recently announced that legislative elections will take place on 28 November 2026, to be followed by the opening of the National Council session and presidential elections in 2027.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Legislative Council has been inactive since 2007 following the political split and Hamas’s takeover of the Gaza Strip. The body was dissolved by President Abbas in 2018.
The last Palestinian legislative elections were held 20 years ago in 2006. The Palestinian political system has been divided since 2007, with Hamas controlling Gaza, which has been under attack by Israeli occupiers or colonialists since October 2023, and Fatah controlling the Israeli-occupied West Bank.