Abbas Delays Palestinian Elections to September 2027

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree on Saturday postponing the Palestinian Elections that were set for November 2026, pushing the first national vote in a generation back to September 2027, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

The decree blamed "obstacles posed by Israeli measures" and said the Palestinian Elections needed suitable political, security and on-the-ground conditions for what it called "free, fair and inclusive elections," as reported by The Associated Press.

The presidential poll, the first since 2005, will now take place on the same date as the legislative vote, making September 2027 a combined ballot for the Palestinian Elections, the decree said. The announcement closes weeks of speculation that the Palestinian Elections would be delayed again, after serious doubts emerged about whether the Palestinian Authority could run the vote next month.

Israel immediately rejected the explanation. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote on X that Abbas was offering "yet another ridiculous lie designed to evade responsibility and accountability," pointing to the fact that Palestinians have not held a national vote in two decades, as reported by Reuters.

A timeline of two decades without a vote

The gap in Palestinian Elections stretches back to the mid-2000s. Abbas won the last presidential election in 2005, and Hamas won the legislative elections a year later. After those results, Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 following clashes with forces loyal to Abbas's Fatah movement, splitting the territories between Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza.

That split ended national-level voting; no Palestinian Elections have taken place since. The Palestinian Legislative Council, the authority's parliament, has not convened since 2007, and Abbas has governed by decree since his presidential mandate expired in 2009. The decree cites Israeli military operations, settlement expansion, settler violence and movement restrictions in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, alongside Israel's continued withholding of Palestinian tax revenues, Reuters reported.

There were recent signs the process might restart. The Palestinian Authority held municipal elections in April of this year in the West Bank and in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, the first election of any kind held in Gaza since 2006, according to Reuters. Abbas then reaffirmed the November 2026 timetable in an address to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2026, as he sought to advance internationally backed reforms, AnewZ reported.

The shift came after Palestinian factions met in Cairo, where Fatah and Hamas leaders agreed to recommend postponing the Palestinian Elections, two Palestinian officials told Reuters. The Palestine Liberation Organization's Executive Committee, which Abbas heads, said conditions in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza were not conducive to holding elections, noting that Israel had not allowed election materials or international observers to enter Gaza, as reported by The Associated Press.

Both sides blame each other

The Palestinian Authority said this week that Israel refused to allow Palestinian election officials access to east Jerusalem or Gaza ahead of the legislative vote. Saar denied that Israel was obstructing the process, saying on Friday that Abbas's "attempt to drag Israel into this, falsely claiming that Israel imposed obstacles to holding elections," was evasive, according to WE News English.

The dispute lands while Israel prepares for its own national election in October 2026. An August poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research showed declining support for both Fatah and Hamas ahead of the Palestinian Elections, which many Palestinians blame for the political divisions between Gaza and the West Bank, AnewZ reported.

The postponement leaves entrenched Palestinian leaders unchallenged and threatens to further erode the Palestinian Authority's credibility among ordinary Palestinians and the donor countries that fund it, as reported by The Associated Press. The internationally backed body is dominated by Fatah and has administered semiautonomous parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank since agreements reached in the 1990s. Many Palestinians view it as corrupt and criticize its security cooperation with Israel.

What the delay means for voters

For Palestinians who have never cast a ballot in a national election, the announcement extends a wait that now spans their entire adult lives. A displaced man in Deir el-Balah named Abu Amin Joudeh said Palestinians wanted to vote for their representatives. "We know things are difficult here because of the war and all the destruction, but how long will the elections continue to be postponed?" he said, as reported by WE News English.

International pressure for the Palestinian Elections is likely to continue. Abbas had pledged to French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that he would hold presidential and legislative elections as part of France's recognition of a Palestinian state in September 2025, AnewZ reported. France's foreign ministry said holding the elections was essential and welcomed the launch of a European Union election observation mission.

For more on how votes reshape politics across the region and beyond, see our coverage of world and society news and the snap election reshaping Spain's politics.