Web Desk(National Times)- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday postponed legislative elections to September next year, official media said, confirming widespread speculation over the polls which were last held in 2006.
The vote will be held alongside presidential elections on September 11, 2027, Abbas said in a decree, blaming “obstacles” imposed by Israel, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency.
The legislative elections, which the international community has strongly advocated for, had been scheduled for November 28 this year, while a presidential vote was expected in early 2027.
Israel had blasted Abbas’s Palestinian Authority as “corrupt” over the anticipated delay.
“Abbas issued a presidential decree on Saturday calling for simultaneous presidential and legislative elections to be held on September 11, 2027,” Abbas’s office said in a statement published by Wafa.
The presidency blamed the delay on “obstacles imposed by Israeli measures that prevent elections from being held on their previously scheduled date, as well as the need to create appropriate political, security and on-the-ground conditions to ensure free, fair and inclusive elections”.
This week, Abbas’ Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority said Israel refused to allow Palestinian election officials access to east Jerusalem or Gaza ahead of the legislative elections.
Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar on Friday had accused Abbas of “fooling the international community” by planning to postpone upcoming legislative polls.
Holding polls is part of the reforms demanded by the international community for the Palestinian Authority, including the European Union.
The last legislative elections in the Palestinian territories were held in 2006, when Hamas won. They defeated Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority.
The ensuing rift set off a round of factional fighting, with Hamas later seizing power in the Gaza Strip and creating a territorial divide between Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza.
As a result, the Palestinian Legislative Council, which is the Palestinian Authority’s parliament, has not met since 2007.
Abbas won the last Palestinian presidential election in 2005, and his term should have expired in 2009, but he has since ruled by decree.
