Mahmoud Abbas postpones Palestinian elections to September 2027

What happened to the Palestinian elections Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has issued a presidential decree postponing legislative elections to 11 September 2027, pushing back a vote scheduled for next month and extending a 20-year hiatus on public voting. The presidential election, which has not taken place since 2005, is scheduled to take place on the same day. Official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported the decree following a meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee. Palestinian officials stated that election conditions in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza were unsuitable, saying Israel had blocked election supplies and international observers from entering Gaza. ## Political opposition and Cairo talks The decision followed discussions in Cairo among Palestinian political factions about delaying the poll. Opposition groups had been negotiating candidate slates, with an alliance forming between Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and a bloc headed by former Fatah security chief Mohammed Dahlan. Dimitri Dilliani, a spokesperson for Dahlan's faction, said Abbas postponed the vote because he was intimidated by opposition cooperation. Candidates had not yet formally registered prior to the decree. ## Two decades without a national vote Palestinians have not voted in a legislative election since 2006, when Hamas won a parliamentary majority. That result triggered Western boycotts and internal fighting that left Hamas in control of Gaza and Abbas's Fatah-dominated administration governing parts of the West Bank. Abbas was elected president in 2005 and has repeatedly delayed voting. Although a US-backed framework envisioned a governance role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, power transitions remain on hold while technocrats remain in Cairo waiting for entry permission.