Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas announced the holding presidential elections in early 2027 and parliamentary elections since next NovemberAccording to his office.
THE 90-year-old politician did not specify whether he would be the same candidate for his re-election.
Abbas had been elected in early 2005 after the death of the first president of the Palestinian Yasser Arafat Authority. His term would last four years, however Since then no presidential elections have been held and governs by decrees, for which it is criticized both internally and internationally.
In another presidency announcement, Abbas stressed that he is "absolutely ready to organise the National Palestinian Council elections in November, including the general parliamentary elections in Palestinian territories as well as the elections abroad".
The National Palestinian Council is the Parliament of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Its members come from Palestinian territories and diaspora.
The last parliamentary elections in Palestinian territories held in 2006. The Hamas Islamist movement had won them, winning the Fatah movement of Mahmoud Abbas, which previously dominated Palestinian political life.
The Palestinian Legislative Council, Parliament of the Palestinian Authority, has not met since 2007.
The organisation of elections is part of the reforms required by the international community, which financially supports the Palestinian Authority.
In 2021, Abbas had announced parliamentary and presidential elections to be held respectively in May and July of that year but were subsequently postponed indefinitely due to the lack of guarantees allowing the vote in East Jerusalem, occupied territory by Israel since 1967.
Last April the Palestinians were called to the polls to elect the presidents of the municipal councils in the West Bank, in the first vote organised after the beginning of the Gaza war in October 2023.