Abbas Postpones Palestinian Elections to 2027 Draws Backlash: Israel Calls It Evasion, Dahlan Slams Private Fiefdom
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree on Saturday cancelling legislative elections scheduled for November and postponing both presidential and legislative polls to September 11, 2027, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. It is another major rewrite of the Palestinian political calendar: Palestinians have not held legislative or presidential elections since 2005-06, two decades ago. GSM reported the decree's contents on Oct. 10; this story covers the reactions.
The decree attributed the delay to obstacles posed by Israeli measures: in the West Bank, military attacks, settlement expansion, settler violence, movement restrictions including in East Jerusalem, and Israel's continued withholding of Palestinian tax revenues; in Gaza, exceptional security and humanitarian conditions, the incomplete Israeli withdrawal, lack of progress in reconstruction and on deploying an international stabilisation force, plus Israeli restrictions on access for election commission staff and international observers to Gaza and East Jerusalem.
Israel pushed back swiftly. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar dismissed the postponement, calling it an attempt by Abbas to evade responsibility. The decree said the decision followed a Palestine Liberation Organisation executive committee resolution and consultations with Palestinian factions, aiming to allow time for a comprehensive Palestinian national dialogue.
Palestinian domestic criticism was equally sharp. Mohammed Dahlan, a Gaza native based in the United Arab Emirates, said in a statement that Abbas and the circle of self-serving beneficiaries around him have turned the institutions of the Palestinian Authority into a private fiefdom. Journalist Esmat Mansour, a former official of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said in a Facebook video: The only thing that could explain this delay is your fear of elections. You are afraid of holding elections. You do not want people to have a say.
Others saw it differently. Palestinian analyst Ghassan al-Khatib told AFP he never expected there to be a vote because Israel is making conditions that are not conducive to elections, adding that he did not think internal Palestinian politics was the reason for the postponement. Activist Mustafa Barghouti called two decades without elections totally unacceptable, saying everything is concentrated in the hands of the executive authority. Holding polls is one of the international community's core demands for Palestinian Authority reform, including from the European Union. (Sources: Reuters, AFP, Al Jazeera)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：巴勒斯坦总统马哈茂德·阿巴斯肖像（资料图）
