Palestine factions consider postponing elections amid Israeli complications, internal feud

Factions in Palestine consider postponing legislative elections in the country, which were supposed to happen after 20 years.President Mahmoud Abbas has set November 28 as the date of parliamentary elections in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.A top official with the Hamas-allied Islamic Jihad group told the Associated Press that the factions had reached an agreement to delay the vote.The reason for the postponement has been attributed to the logistical issues arising in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem and war-struck Gaza, as well as the historical internal conflicts among the Palestinians.A spokesperson for President Abbas’ party Fatah, said the election timing will be part of a “dialogue and national consensus” among the factions. He did not clarify whether a final decision had been reached.The spokesperson also said that potential postponement will be discussed by the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation.The Palestinian territories last held legislative elections in 2006, when Hamas defeated Abbas's Fatah party, which had previously dominated Palestinian politics. Since then, the Palestinian Legislative Council, the parliament of Abbas's Palestinian Authority, has not met since 2007.However, Palestinians did return to the polls in April, when they elected municipal council heads in the West Bank. That was the first vote since the Gaza war broke out in October 2023.On Tuesday, the European Union said it was ready to deploy election observers for the Palestinian legislative elections.EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas made the announcement on X after speaking with Palestinian vice president Hussein Al-Sheikh."Palestinians have the right to choose their representatives in elections that are credible, inclusive and transparent," she wrote.Holding elections is among the reforms demanded by the international community, including the European Union.