Callas: Palestinian elections must be organized “as soon as possible”

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European Union foreign policy chief Kaya Kallas said on Monday that the Palestinian elections should be held “as soon as possible,” after postponing them to next year.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced on Saturday the postponement of the legislative elections that were expected to be held next November, and called for them to be held with the presidential elections on one day in September 2027.

Callas said after a meeting of European foreign ministers that they "expressed their regret for the postponement of the Palestinian elections. The legislative and presidential elections must be held as soon as possible."

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said earlier Monday that postponing the Palestinian elections is "the worst that can be offered" to the Palestinian people.

He stated that postponing the legislative elections is "the worst that can be offered to the Palestinians, who have the right to express their aspiration for self-determination, and to do so through free and democratic elections."

Palestinian legislative elections have not been held for nearly two decades, and organizing them is a demand of many international parties. Abbas (90 years old) has ruled by decree since the end of his term in 2009, and he announced in June that he would call presidential elections in early 2027.

However, at the end of last week, he issued “a presidential decree calling for holding simultaneous presidential and legislative elections on September 11, 2027, based on the decision of the Executive Committee of the PLO, after canceling the decree... regarding calling for holding legislative elections on November 28, 2026,” according to what the official Wafa Agency reported.

She explained that the decision came after “national consultations with the Palestinian political factions and forces, and the resulting national consensus regarding the obstacles imposed by Israeli measures on the possibility of holding elections on their previous date.”

However, the Hebrew state denied responsibility for this. Its Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote on the X platform, “Mahmoud Abbas, the corrupt Palestinian dictator who has not held elections in more than two decades, has once again deceived the international community.”

The Hamas movement won the last Palestinian legislative elections in 2006, defeating the Fatah movement led by Abbas. The division that followed led to the outbreak of a round of factional fighting, so that the Hamas movement later took control of power in the Gaza Strip, which created a division between the Fatah movement that rules the West Bank and the Hamas movement in Gaza.

As a result, the Palestinian Legislative Council has not met since 2007.

Abbas won the last Palestinian presidential election in 2005, and his term was supposed to end in 2009, but he has been ruling by decree since then.