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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree calling on “the Palestinian people in the homeland and the diaspora” to elect the National Council on Nov. 1, 2026, for the first time by a general vote, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported Monday.
The Palestinian National Council, established in 1964, represents the Palestinian people in the homeland and the diaspora.
The presidential decree stipulates that the elections will be held “wherever possible, inside and outside Palestine, in a way that ensures the broadest possible participation of the Palestinian people wherever they are, and that they will be conducted under full proportional representation, guaranteeing fair representation for all components of the Palestinian people.”
The decree also said that the Central Elections Commission will assume full oversight of the electoral process.
This will be the first time members of the council are elected by popular vote, as they were previously appointed or selected unopposed.
In a related development, Abbas issued a decision setting May 14, 2026, as the date for the eighth general conference of the Fatah movement in Ramallah.
The Palestinian president is empowered to issue decisions with the force of law in the absence of a Legislative Council responsible for passing laws and legislation.
The call for elections to the Palestinian National Council came amid international, regional and local demands to hold Palestinian legislative and presidential elections, which have been stalled since the split.
The last presidential election was held in 2005, while the last parliamentary election took place in 2006.
In 2018, the Legislative Council, won by Hamas in 2006, was dissolved after it had been inactive since 2007, following the group’s takeover of the Gaza Strip after several days of fighting with Palestinian security forces.
In January, the Central Elections Commission closed an update of the electoral register, which showed that the previous number listed on its website in the West Bank exceeded 1.5 million people eligible to take part in the electoral process.
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