Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has announced that presidential elections will be held in 2027, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported Sunday.

The presidential decree did not provide any specific date for the elections beyond stating the year.

Abbas has canceled elections several times in the past that he had previously announced, and has now remained in power for 20 years, 15 years beyond the original date on which he was due to seek re-election as PA president.

Abbas had previously said that elections would be held one year after the end of the war in Gaza, meaning in October 2026, but did not set a specific date for the presidential vote. It now appears that timeline has changed.

The decree also stated that elections for the Palestinian National Council, the parliament of the PLO, will be held in November 2026.

According to WAFA, the declaration additionally increased the number of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council to 200, lowered the electoral threshold to one percent and required the inclusion of one woman for every three candidates on any list.

Abbas, 90, limits decision-making to his tight inner circle and rarely leaves his headquarters in the city of Ramallah, except to travel abroad.

An October poll by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that 80 percent of Palestinians in........

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