France, one of the main supporters of the Palestinian Authority, today asked its leaders to reconsider the postponement of parliamentary and presidential elections to September 2027 and to organise the two votes as soon as possible.
© Reuters
11/10/2026
by
Lusa
A France, one of the main supporters of the Palestinian Authority, today asked its leaders to “return the decision” to postpone the parliamentary and presidential elections to September 2027 and to organise the two votes “as soon as possible”.
In a statement, the spokesperson of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers that the postponement “repeats the Palestinian people from their right to express themselves democratically through voting”.
The leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, scheduled simultaneous presidential and legislative elections on Saturday for September 11, 2027.
Parliamentary elections, part of the reforms required of the Palestinian Authority by the international community, including the European Union, were originally scheduled for 28 November 2026, while presidential elections were expected for the beginning of next year.
In reaction to the postponement, the spokesperson for Paris’ diplomacy said that “it is urgent” to return his voice to the Palestinians and “allow them to choose their representatives through free and transparent elections, as the President [Abbas] promised”.
The last legislative elections in Palestine were held 20 years ago and were expected in 2021, but were postponed.
Palestinian leaders have claimed strong Israeli restrictions on the vote in occupied East Jerusalem, which has now added the war in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the Palestinian Presidency justified that the new timetable was decided because of the “obstacles imposed by Israeli measures preventing elections from being held on the originally planned date, as well as the need to create appropriate political, security and practice conditions to ensure free, fair and inclusive elections”.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns, however, that " Palestinian democratic renewal is inseparable from preserving the two-state solution to which France remains firmly committed".
France was one of the ten western countries, alongside the United Kingdom, Canada and also Portugal, which recognized the State of Palestine in September 2025, in a diplomatic wave in the middle of the Gaza Strip and increased violence in the occupied West Bank despite Israel's protests.
French diplomacy insists that voting implies respect for the “democratic principles that are the very foundation of the State of Palestine”, as well as the ability of Palestinian leaders to “take forward, with renewed legitimacy, the aspirations of the Palestinian people for dignity, freedom and self-determination”.
France “is ready, together with its European partners, to support the smooth progress of this process” and remains willing “to support efforts to consolidate the institutions of the State of Palestine, provided that the commitments made in the context of recognition are honoured”, concludes the French ministry.
The Palestinian authorities argue the crucial logistical issues for the vote in the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem are still unresolved and the main political groups have failed to record their electoral lists for the forthcoming elections.
During a meeting on Wednesday in Cairo, four Palestinian factions, including Fatah, led by Abbas and which controls the Palestinian Authority, and its main opponent, the Islamist Hamas group, agreed to the opening of a “national dialogue” and, according to various party sources, to request the postponement of the legislative.
On Saturday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar removed his country's responsibilities in postponing the legislative elections in Palestine.
“His [Abbas] attempt to implicate Israel in this matter [...] is just another ridiculous lie intended to shirk responsibility and avoid accountability,” Gideon Saar wrote on network X.
In the last elections, held in 2006, Hamas, classified as a terrorist movement by the United States, the European Union and Israel, won most of the seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council, composed of 132 members, but failed to maintain a government in the West Bank.
However, it took power in the Gaza Strip in 2007, following a cycle of unrest and political violence with Fatah, the Abbas party and the dominant force in the Palestinian Authority, without further elections being held in the West Bank and the Palestinian enclave until today.
The Gaza Strip was virtually destroyed after the war started by Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, where 1,200 people died and 251 were taken hostage.
The parties agreed on a ceasefire, which was in force a year ago after more than 70,000 deaths in the Palestinian enclave, but have since been accused of successive violations of the compromise and Israel's attacks have become almost daily, without both sides being able to move towards the next stages of the peace roadmap proposed by the United States.
The attacks of 7 October also led to a spiral of violence in the occupied West Bank, where more than a thousand Palestinians died, according to the UN, in attacks on extremist settlers and raids by the Israeli army.