On 4th June, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas approved the electoral framework for the Palestinian National Council following its adoption by the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The announcement of elections, expected to be held in early November, cannot be separated from a series of developments that began to unfold toward the end of 2024 amid the war in Gaza, growing international calls for action, and renewed momentum behind the recognition of Palestinian statehood. This article traces the diplomatic and political developments that accompanied that shift, as well as the practical measures undertaken by the Palestinian leadership in response. In doing so, it seeks to place the forthcoming National Council elections within their wider context and to better understand the realities shaping Palestinian politics today.

During the second half of last year, the United Nations General Assembly voted by an overwhelming majority in favour of the New York Declaration, drafted by France and Saudi Arabia at the conclusion of a conference convened in response to the deteriorating political and security situation in the occupied Palestinian territories. The conference took place amid growing commitments by several influential states, including France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, to move toward recognizing a Palestinian state. The New York Declaration condemned Hamas for the 7th October attacks and linked recognition of Palestinian statehood to reform within the Palestinian Authority. These developments unfolded against a backdrop of continued Israeli rejection of Palestinian statehood, a negotiated settlement to the conflict, and any meaningful path toward ending the occupation, despite the fact that nearly three-quarters of the world’s countries already recognise Palestine. The conference itself originated from United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/79/81, adopted on December 3, 2024, which called for the convening of a high-level international conference on Palestine and the implementation of the two-state solution. It was in this diplomatic and political climate that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sent his letter to the international community on 9th June 2025. In it, he affirmed that a future Palestinian state would be non-militarised, pledged to continue reforming the Palestinian Authority, and announced his intention to hold presidential and legislative elections within a year under international supervision to ensure their integrity and credibility.

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A series of measures taken by President Mahmoud Abbas can be traced to the political and diplomatic momentum generated by the General Assembly resolution and the New York Conference. Together, they form part of the chain of developments that culminated in the recent announcement of National Council elections and the anticipated political parties law, which is also expected to be unveiled in the near future.

On 10th February 2025, Abbas issued a decree-law that dismantled the existing legal framework governing financial allocations to prisoners, martyrs’ families, and the wounded. The new system shifted the basis of eligibility from criteria linked to imprisonment, detention, or political affiliation to social welfare considerations and economic need. The decision was welcomed by the European Union and the US administration, both of which viewed it as evidence of the Palestinian Authority’s willingness to pursue institutional and financial reform. Palestinian prisoner organisations and several political factions took a different view, arguing that the move undermined the legal and political status traditionally accorded to prisoners. By the summer of 2025, the issue had become one of the most frequently cited examples of what participants in the New York Conference described as ongoing Palestinian reforms. During the same period, Abbas introduced changes in the leadership of the security services in the occupied territories. The Anti-Corruption Crimes Court also summoned the Director General of the Crossings and Borders Authority, along with fifteen other individuals, lifted banking secrecy protections, and launched investigations into their assets and property holdings. Yet these measures remained largely procedural. 

On 16th August 2025, a presidential decree established a committee tasked with drafting a provisional constitution. The decree called for the formation of a national body to prepare a constitutional framework for the transition from the Palestinian Authority to a Palestinian state, in line with the Declaration of Independence, international law, relevant international resolutions, and international human rights instruments. The Palestinian presidency linked the initiative to preparations for the international conference on the implementation of the two-state solution and to future general........

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