The parliament of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, also known as the Palestinian National Council, will hold elections on November 1, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced on Monday.
While elections have been called before, they have been repeatedly canceled. The upcoming election will be the first in which council members are elected rather than appointed.
“Elections will be held wherever possible, both inside and outside Palestine, to ensure the broadest possible participation of the Palestinian people wherever they reside,” Abbas said.
It is unclear how the votes abroad will take place.
Despite the decree, the Palestinian National Council has not held a session convened by Abbas since 2018 and is considered less powerful than the PLO Executive Committee.
Abbas also issued a decision setting the date for the 8th General Conference of Fatah in Ramallah for May 14, 2026, and the cabinet had earlier announced the date for local elections in the West Bank for April 25, 2026.
Last week, Abbas signed a decree banning Hamas from the municipal elections.
Fatah voter base in West Bank nearly halved
The ban came only shortly after the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research reported that Fatah’s voter base in the West Bank nearly halved, from 23% to 14%, based on a survey conducted in October 2025.
Abbas’s popularity as president, the poll found, also fell behind that of the hypothetical presidency of imprisoned Fatah terrorist Marwan Barghouti.
The majority (76%) of the West Bank Palestinians also said they did not trust the PA.