Election postponement further erodes Palestinian Authority’s legitimacy

Everyone saw it coming. The postponement of the Palestinian legislative elections had been in the works for weeks. As early as August, 44% of Palestinians surveyed by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research doubted that the elections would be held as planned. Announced in July, the vote was supposed to take place on Nov. 28 in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, followed by a presidential election in early 2027. These would have been the first legislative elections since 2006, when Hamas defeated Fatah, leading to the Islamist movement's takeover of Gaza a year later after a fratricidal war. Read more What remains of the Palestinian cause, three years after the Oct. 7 attack? A vote scheduled in 2021 to renew the Palestinian Legislative Council had been postponed indefinitely, with Israel's refusal to...