Palestinian Factions Discuss Delaying the November Legislative Election, No Decree Issued Yet
Palestinian factions meeting in Cairo have discussed postponing the Legislative Council election set for November 28, with an Islamic Jihad official saying they reached an understanding to delay it, while Fatah says the dialogue is continuing and no decree has been issued.
Palestinian factions holding talks in Cairo have discussed postponing the legislative election scheduled for November 28, 2026, but no formal decision to delay the vote had been published by Thursday, October 8. Mohammed al-Hindi, a senior official of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, told the Associated Press that the Cairo talks produced an understanding to postpone the election. Fatah spokesman Abdel Fattah Dolah described a dialogue that was still continuing and did not confirm that a final decision had been made.
The Palestinian news site SadaNews, citing unnamed Palestinian sources, reported a preliminary agreement among the factions and said a presidential decision was expected at a later stage.
The vote on the calendar
The election in question is for the Palestinian Legislative Council, the parliament of the Palestinian Authority. It is not a presidential vote, a ballot for the Palestinian National Council or a round of local elections. According to the Central Elections Commission, a presidential decree issued on July 9 set legislative voting for November 28, 2026.
Palestinians last elected a Legislative Council in January 2006, a vote won by Hamas. The split that followed, and Hamas's violent takeover of Gaza in 2007, left the council unable to function, and in December 2018 the Palestinian Constitutional Court ordered it dissolved. Since then Abbas has governed by presidential decree. In 2021 Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called new elections, then postponed them indefinitely weeks before polling day.
Talks, not a decision
Under the current schedule, only a new presidential decree can move the date. None has been issued publicly. What exists so far are statements from faction officials about the direction of the Cairo discussions, and they do not agree on how far those discussions have gone: Islamic Jihad speaks of an understanding, while Fatah, the movement that leads the Palestinian Authority, describes talks still under way.
Other accounts circulating about a fixed new date or a set length for any delay have not been confirmed by a published decision.
Why it matters to Israel
For Israel, the central question hanging over any Palestinian vote is the place of Hamas, the terrorist organisation that won the last legislative election and then carried out the October 7 attack, in which about 1,200 people were murdered and 251 were abducted. Whether, and on what terms, the movement would take part in a new ballot has shaped every attempt to hold one.
What comes next
If the factions do settle on a delay, the decision will rest with Abbas, who called the vote in July. Until a decree is issued, the Central Elections Commission's timetable for November 28 remains the official one. A second postponement in five years would extend a period in which Palestinians in the Palestinian Authority areas have had no functioning elected parliament for most of two decades.
