Europe’s applause for Abbas is failing Palestinian democracy - opinion

While Palestinians live through war, collapse, humiliation, and despair, Western diplomats applauded Mahmoud Abbas at the Fatah Congress instead of demanding the one thing Palestinians have been denied for two decades: the right to vote.

Supporting authoritarian stagnation in the name of “stability” is not support for the Palestinian people. It is a betrayal of Palestinian democracy and of the future legitimacy of the Palestinian political system itself.

National presidential and legislative elections are no longer optional. They are now the only possible rescue boat for the Palestinian political system before the total collapse of public trust.

Today, Palestinians are asked once again to applaud a carefully managed internal “election” process for the Fatah Central Committee and Revolutionary Council while power remains concentrated in the same aging political circle that has dominated Palestinian politics for nearly 20 years. But the real scandal was not only Palestinian authoritarianism. It was the active international legitimization of it.

In reality, he stood beside a political system that has denied Palestinians their most basic democratic right for nearly two decades: the right to vote.

European ambassadors and other Western diplomats sat in the hall, applauding. European political parties sent messages of support. Europe – the continent that constantly lectures the Middle East about democracy, transparency, accountability, and human rights – became an active participant in endorsing political stagnation, fear, corruption, and authoritarianism inside Palestinian politics.

At a moment when Palestinians are living through national catastrophe, economic collapse, and profound political despair, Europe chose symbolism over substance. Instead of demanding accountability, reform, and democratic renewal, many Western governments offered legitimacy to a leadership that has systematically postponed elections, weakened institutions, and silenced dissent.

Palestinians do not need more speeches praising Mahmoud Abbas. They need the opportunity to choose who represents them.

For nearly 20 years, no Palestinian presidential or legislative elections have taken place. An entire generation has grown into adulthood without ever casting a vote for its national leadership.

Political institutions that were once meant to prepare Palestinians for statehood have gradually transformed into closed patronage systems where loyalty is rewarded more than competence, and criticism is often treated as a threat rather than a democratic necessity. No leadership can sustainably claim legitimacy while indefinitely avoiding elections.

What makes Europe’s position especially disturbing is the double standard. European leaders rightly defend democracy inside Europe itself. Yet when it comes to Palestinians, many suddenly lower the bar. Cosmetic gestures become “historic reforms.” Appointing deputies and reshuffling titles are celebrated as progress while the central issue – democratic legitimacy – is quietly ignored.

Even Mahmoud Abbas himself acknowledged this reality. In his June 9, 2025, letter to the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and to French President Emmanuel Macron, Abbas explicitly committed to holding presidential and legislative elections within one year, describing them as a constitutional and national entitlement for the Palestinian people.

European leaders know this promise exists. Yet instead of insisting it be honored, they continue rewarding delay with diplomatic recognition, applause, and political protection. That sends a devastating message to Palestinians: democracy matters everywhere except in Palestine.

The tragedy is that Palestinians today are desperate for renewal. Across Palestinian society, there is growing exhaustion with corruption, paralysis, factionalism, and aging leadership disconnected from reality.

Palestinians are mourning tens of thousands of deaths in Gaza while simultaneously watching their political system remain frozen in time. Under such conditions, international support should be directed toward rebuilding legitimacy – not preserving stagnation.

The recent recognition of Palestine by several European states was presented as a moral step toward justice. But recognition without democratic renewal risks becoming little more than political theater. Foreign governments do not create Palestinian legitimacy. The Palestinian people do.

And legitimacy cannot be inherited, managed indefinitely by decree, or protected forever through international applause. It must come from elections.

There is also a deeper strategic failure in the current European approach. European governments continue treating Palestinian statehood primarily as a diplomatic exercise conducted in international institutions.

But no declaration in Madrid, Paris, London, or New York can independently create a functioning Palestinian state. Real sovereignty requires credible Palestinian leadership with public legitimacy – leadership capable of engaging both Palestinians and Israelis with authority, trust, and accountability.

Instead, Europe continues investing in preserving an exhausted and increasingly disconnected status quo.

Liberal democratic Western governments that applaud Palestinian authoritarianism have a great deal to answer for: no elections since 2006, no new generation of leadership, no accountability, no renewal, and diminishing hope for ordinary Palestinians.

The Palestinian people have long been held hostage not only by their own failed leadership, but also by the hypocrisy of international actors too willing to confuse symbolism with substance.

European leaders and diplomats had an opportunity to stand with ordinary Palestinians demanding accountability and democratic renewal. They could have publicly called for elections. They could have reminded Mahmoud Abbas of his own commitments. They could have made clear that support for Palestinian aspirations must go hand in hand with support for Palestinian democracy.

Instead, they chose applause.