Mahmoud Abbas was elected
President of the
Palestinian National Authority on 9 January 2005 for a four-year term that ended on 9 January 2009. The last elections for the
Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) were held on 25 January 2006. There have not been any elections either for president or for the legislature since these two elections. Elections since these dates have only been for local offices. In February 2007, Saudi-sponsored negotiations led to the
Hamas & Fatah Mecca Agreement signed by
Mahmoud Abbas on behalf of Fatah and
Khaled Mashal on behalf of Hamas to form a unity government. The new government was called on to achieve Palestinian national goals as approved by the
Palestine National Council, the clauses of the Basic Law and the National Reconciliation Document (the "Prisoners' Document") as well as the decisions of the Arab summit. In March 2007, the PLC established a
national unity government, with 83 representatives voting in favour and three against. Government ministers were sworn in by
Mahmoud Abbas, the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, at a ceremony held simultaneously in Gaza and Ramallah. In June that year, renewed fighting broke out between Hamas and Fatah. In the course of the June
2007 Battle of Gaza, Hamas exploited the near total collapse of Palestinian Authority forces in Gaza and seized control of Gaza, ousting Fatah officials. President Mahmoud Abbas then dismissed the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority government and outlawed the Hamas militia. In September 2007, President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah unilaterally changed the electoral laws of 2005 He insisted he could issue the change by
decree as long as the PLC was unable to convene. By 2010, the security and economic situation of the residents of Gaza had deteriorated dramatically. With financial backing from Iran, Hamas had used its position in Gaza to launch thousands of rockets at Israel. Hamas had long expressed interest in taking control of the West Bank and strengthening its foothold in the area and stated its intent to use the elections as a means to undermine the stability of the Palestinian Authority.
Attempts to resolve election issue In September 2008, it was suggested that Abbas' term be extended one year or that the PLC be dissolved a year early in order to hold both elections at the same time. Hamas objected to holding simultaneous elections, arguing that the presidential election should have been held in January 2009 and the parliamentary elections in 2010. Hamas also claimed that the Speaker of the PLC,
Aziz al-Dewik, a Hamas member, became the Palestinian president after Abbas' term ended on 9 January 2009 until the holding of new elections. Fatah argued that elections should have been held in January 2010 since the Palestinian election law calls for presidential and legislative council elections to be held simultaneously, four years after the date of the later. Since the legislative council elections were held in 2006 (a year after the presidential election) new elections for both should have been held in January 2010. In reconciliation talks held in March 2009 in Cairo, Egypt, Hamas and Fatah agreed to hold the elections by 25 January 2010. In February 2010, local government elections were called in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for July 2010. The West Bank Palestinian government decided to postpone the elections, arguing that it wanted to safeguard "national unity". In December 2010, the Palestinian High Court of Justice ruled that once the cabinet calls elections it does not have authority to cancel them. After being postponed several times, the
local government elections took place in October and November 2012 and covered only the West Bank. Presidential and parliamentary election to the Palestinian Authority were postponed several times because of
intra-Palestinian political disputes between
Fatah and
Hamas from the original date of 17 July 2010. In February 2011, following the resignation of
Saeb Erekat as chief negotiator with Israel for the
Israeli–Palestinian peace process following the release of the
Palestine Papers, which were harshly critical of the PLO's concessions, the PLO Executive Committee announced intentions to hold elections before October. In October 2011, Abbas sent a proposal to Hamas for another general election, preferably to be held in early 2012. It was suggested that Hamas would be more willing to participate in another election following the
Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange which boosted Hamas' standing in Gaza. In November 2011, an election date on 4 May 2012 was preliminarily agreed on. However, due to further bickering, the election could not be held by that date. On 20 December 2013, Hamas called on the Palestinian Authority to form a six-month national unity government that would finally hold the long-delayed general election. Following the upgrade of the UN status of Palestine to non-member observer state, it was proposed that general state elections would follow in 2013, in line with unity talks of Fatah and Hamas. In April 2014,
agreement was reached between Fatah and Hamas to form a unity government, which happened on 2 June 2014, and for general elections to take place within 6 months of the agreement. However the elections were then delayed indefinitely. In October 2017, Hamas and
Fatah signed a reconciliation deal in which Hamas agreed to dissolve the unity government in
Gaza and hold general elections by the end of 2018, but the elections again were not held. Mahmoud Abbas announced on 26 September 2019 in a speech at the
UN General Assembly that he intended to set a date for elections once he returned to the
West Bank. Hamas responded by indicating that it was ready to hold "comprehensive and general elections", but on 6 November, Hamas and
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) rejected Abbas's terms for holding elections, which required candidates to recognize the agreements signed by the PLO to be able to run. It can possibly be held in 2026. ==Suspension==