Local Elections (2026)
The next elections for Palestine’s local authorities, including municipalities and village councils, is scheduled to take place on 25 April 2026 in both Gaza and the West Bank.
According to the 2025 presidential decree issued by President Mahmoud Abbas to regulate the elections, candidates must “commit to the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s program, its international commitments and the decisions of international legitimacy”. As per the decree, the Central Elections Commission, headed by former prime minister Rami Hamdallah, can reject candidates if it considers that they do meet these conditions.
These conditions have been rejected by five Palestinian factions (PFLP, DFLP, Palestine People’s Party, FIDA, and Palestinian National Initiative (Mubadara)). Demanding that Abbas withdraw the presidential decree, they warned its recent amendments affect the “spirit of the electoral system” and contain obligations that “violate the rights enshrined in the [1988] Declaration of Independence and the [Palestinian Authority‘s] Basic Law.
Palestinian civil society groups have also voiced similar criticism of the law which “included new conditions that were not contained in any of the drafts discussed during [national] consultations” with them and which “fundamentally affect the right to political participation”. Unless the presidential law is retracted, they have threatened to re-evaluate their participations in the process, including electoral oversight.