PA President Abbas issues call for Palestinian National Council elections, first Palestinian vote since 2006

The leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, issued a presidential decree calling for elections for the Palestinian National Council (PNC), the parliament of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), to be held on Nov. 1, Palestinian media reported on Monday. 

The announcement stated that “elections shall be held wherever possible inside and outside Palestine, in a manner that ensures the widest possible participation of our Palestinian people in their places of residence, provided that they are held in accordance with full proportional representation.” 

The decree also stated that “the Central Election Commission will take full supervision of the electoral process.” 

A Palestinian Authority (PA) official told Al-Sharq TV that the new PNC elections, the first elections since Hamas won a majority of seats in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council, “may mark the beginning of a change in the Palestinian political system, so that the parliament of the State of Palestine will be merged with the parliament [PLC] of the Palestinian people, represented by the Palestinian National Council.” 

The Palestinian Legislative Council is the legislature for the Palestinian National Authority, and involves all political factions, while the PNC is only the parliamentary body for the PLO, and has no representation by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. However, the group does elect members to the PLO’s Executive Committee. 

In his capacity as head of the Fatah party, Abbas also issued an official decision to hold the movement's eighth general conference in Ramallah on May 14, 2026, where a vote will be held for the party’s central committee. Members of that committee can receive positions in the PLO’s Executive Committee. 

The call for the PNC elections comes against the backdrop of international, regional, and local calls for the holding of Palestinian legislative and presidential elections, which have been suspended since 2006 and especially following the violent 2007 Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip. Western nations, including the United States and Europe, have been pushing the PA to hold elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council, which have not yet been scheduled. 

According to a decree signed by Abbas in late January, candidates wishing to participate in municipal elections in Judea and Samaria must sign a statement accepting the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and to abide by its commitments, including the two-state solution. 

This requirement is seen as an attempt to block Hamas and other groups from participating in the elections. Abbas also did not indicate whether these elections are being posed as an alternative or precursor to elections for the Palestinian Authority and the PLC. 

The last PA presidential election was held in 2005 and the last election for the PLC was held in 2006.

In 2021, Abbas canceled arrangements for legislative elections, citing Israel's refusal to allow elections in Israeli-controlled East Jerusalem.   

Former PA official Ghaith al-Omari told the Times of Israel, “I think Abbas is quite worried that Hamas’s stocks are rising and that Hamas might be positioned for a good showing in Palestinian politics.” 

“This is also about the PA sending a message to the international community and the Americans in particular that, ‘We are on your side,’” Omari continued. He believes that Abbas could apply changes to future parliamentary or presidential elections.