Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday issued a decree setting November 28 as the date for the first legislative elections in 20 years.
"The presidential decree calls on the Palestinian people in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to participate in free and direct legislative elections to elect members of the Palestinian Legislative Council on the date specified," the Palestinian Authority's official Wafa news agency said.
Mr Abbas, who has been in office since 2005, had announced legislative and presidential elections in 2021, but these were cancelled over Israel's refusal to allow voting to be held in East Jerusalem.
The PA has been under increasing pressure for political reforms and to hold elections, from Palestinians and internationally, after more countries formally recognised the Palestinian state in response to Israel's war in Gaza.
Mr Abbas last month issued a decree setting November 1 as the date for elections to the Palestinian National Council – the parliament of the Palestine Liberation Organisation representing all Palestinians inside the occupied territories and abroad – that also announced changes regarding the PLC.
The decree said at least one in three people on electoral lists for the PLC must be a woman, lowered the minimum age for candidates from 28 to 23, and increased the number of seats in the legislative council from 132 to 200.
In February, Mr Abbas ordered a new interim constitution for Palestine covering matters of national identity, civil rights and elections. Palestine has only a Basic Law to outline the relationship between the government and its people, which was last amended in 2005.
In April, Palestinians went to the polls to elect municipal council heads in the West Bank and in one municipality in Gaza, which has been largely destroyed in the war that broke out in October 2023.
