Awad Rjoob and Rania Abushamala
28 September 2026•Update: 28 September 2026
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday extended the period for submitting candidacy applications for upcoming legislative elections from 12 to 18 days as the number of electoral lists seeking registration rose to seven.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Abbas issued an amendment to the 2007 General Elections Law.
It said the change was intended to give candidates more time to complete their applications amid Israeli military and administrative restrictions on movement and difficult security and political conditions in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Central Elections Commission opened applications Saturday for elections scheduled for Nov. 28. Voting is planned in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
In a statement Sunday, the commission said it had received an application from a seventh electoral list named Phoenix. It received applications Saturday from six others: the Future Palestine Coalition, Justice and Construction, Unity and Democratic Change, the Palestinian National Initiative of Mustafa Barghouti and independents, New Path, and Labor.
Submitting an application does not mean a list has been approved, the commission said. It will check whether each application meets the legal requirements and includes the necessary forms and documents, then notify the applicants of its decision within three days of submission.
Candidates may run for the 132-seat Palestinian Legislative Council only through electoral lists rather than individually. Each list must include at least 16 candidates and no more than 132 while meeting the legal minimum for women’s representation.
Under a presidential decree issued in August, each list must include at least one woman among its first three candidates and one woman in every four subsequent places.
The commission’s timetable sets Nov. 6 as the start of election campaigning and Nov. 26 for early voting by security personnel.
Abbas set the Nov. 28 election date in a decree issued on July 9. If held, it would be the first Palestinian legislative election since 2006 and the third since the establishment of the Palestinian Legislative Council, following votes in 1996 and 2006.
The council’s work has been suspended since the Palestinian political division in 2007, and the Palestinian Constitutional Court ordered its dissolution in 2018. Legislative and presidential elections planned for 2021 were postponed by Abbas, who cited the lack of Israeli assurances that Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem could participate.
