Mahmud Abbas delays Palestinian elections again, making more than two decades without vote

On Friday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree pushing the Palestinian Legislative Council elections — which had been scheduled for November 28, 2026 — back to September 11, 2027. Palestinians have not held a legislative election since 2006, when Hamas won a majority of seats. Abbas has served as president since 2005 and delayed several presidential and legislative elections throughout his tenure. His four-year presidential mandate expired in 2009. He is 91 years old. 

The stated reason for this latest delay is familiar. Abbas announced the postponement, blaming Israel and the security situation for delaying a vote that would have been the first in two decades. Palestinian officials cited conditions in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem as reasons for postponing the vote. Abbas has repeatedly promised fresh elections, only to postpone or cancel them, frequently citing Israeli restrictions, particularly on voting in East Jerusalem. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar was characteristically blunt in response: “Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian corrupt dictator, who has not held elections in over twenty years, has once again deceived the international community.”

The reaction from within Palestinian political society was more measured in tone but equally pointed in substance. Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative party, told Al Jazeera there is great disappointment among the Palestinian people over Abbas’s decision. “There is no independent judiciary, no parliament that can issue laws and legislations,” he said, calling it “totally unacceptable” that Palestinians have been denied elections for two decades. “Abbas is terrified by the electoral alliance bringing our faction together with opposition factions and forces within Fatah that reject his leadership,” said a spokesperson for Mohammed Dahlan’s rival Fatah faction. That internal political pressure — the fear that a unified opposition coalition could defeat or severely weaken Abbas’s faction — is the dimension that critics argue is the real driver of every postponement.

Hamas welcomed the postponement, calling it “a step in the right direction” and urging further talks on rebuilding Palestinian institutions before holding elections. That is a remarkable alignment: the man described by Israel as a corrupt dictator and the organisation designated a terrorist group by the US, EU and UK agree on postponing Palestinian elections. What that tells you about the current state of Palestinian politics — deeply fractured, with no functioning parliament, no independent judiciary, and a leadership whose legitimacy rests entirely on a mandate that expired 17 years ago — is as important as anything else in this story.

The timing is particularly painful given what is at stake for Gaza. A committee of Palestinian technocrats remains in Cairo awaiting permission to enter Gaza and oversee a transition of power. The delay of elections is not just a domestic Palestinian governance failure. It is a material obstacle to any post-war reconstruction effort that requires a legitimate Palestinian authority to administer it. Share this and tell us what you think.

Sources: Fox News / Al Jazeera / CBS News / The Jewish Chronicle / AP — Abbas Delays Palestinian Elections to 2027, October 10-11 2026