The Palestinian Authority's November 28 legislative election will not go ahead as planned. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) told Qatar's Al-Araby TV that Fatah, Hamas, and the PFLP had agreed to push the vote back. The ballot would have been the first Palestinian legislative election since January 2006, when Hamas took a majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council.
The PA's own timeline is shorter. Hussein al-Sheikh informed France that the vote will be delayed by "several months." Reuters reported the decision. Its report cites a letter dated October 8 and addressed to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.
Israel's position on the vote is central to the dispute. On Wednesday, a PA official told the official WAFA news agency that Israel had prevented the Palestinian Central Elections Commission from entering eastern Jerusalem and Gaza to monitor the vote. Commission spokesperson Farid Taamallah confirmed the report to Agence France-Presse and maintained that the election could still be held. Western officials who spoke to the Egyptian channel Al-Sharq cited the same restriction as a major obstacle.
Islamic Jihad's deputy secretary-general, Mohammed al-Hindi, said in remarks to the Associated Press that the factions meeting in Cairo had "reached understandings regarding the renewal of Palestinian national dialogue and agreed to postpone the upcoming Palestinian elections." He added that the Fatah delegation would go back to Ramallah to complete its consultations.
Fatah did not confirm the delay. Party spokesperson Abdel Fattah Dolah stated that Fatah remained committed to holding elections and was consulting the other factions on timing, pointing to difficult conditions facing Palestinians in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria. He described the Cairo meetings as "very positive."
Basem Naim, from Hamas's political bureau, argued to the AP that setting the vote on the original schedule had been premature. "Elections are part of a democratic process, and they must be based on solid internal Palestinian dialogue," he said. Jibril Rajoub, secretary-general of Fatah's Central Committee, told Al-Sharq that the talks are meant to rebuild the Palestinian political system around "one authority, one law and one legitimate weapon." The vote is now expected to be reset for a date in 2027.
The letter to Barrot laid out the PA's reasoning. "The assessment concluded that the anticipated political, security and economic conditions, on which the scheduling of the legislative elections for 28 November 2026 was based, have not materialized," it stated.
Palestinian officials, the letter said, had counted on improvement under the peace plan put forward by US President Donald Trump, together with a resolution of the UN Security Council. Those expectations included international forces and Palestinian police deploying in Gaza, Hamas giving up its weapons and Israeli troops pulling out. The officials also expected US action against further annexation and against what the letter described as settler violence, and American help in freeing close to $7 billion in Palestinian money that Israel has withheld. "However, these steps, understandings and promises have not materialized," the letter said.
The letter was addressed to France, which recognized a Palestinian state in September 2025. France had urged that the planned legislative and presidential elections proceed.
