Ramallah: The Palestinian elections scheduled for 28 November now hang on a decision that sources expect within days, and the European Union is watching closely. The vote for the Palestinian Legislative Council would be the first since 2006, when Hamas won and the rift with Fatah began. Reports on 8 October said talks about postponing the ballot are under way, while Brussels is still pressing for it to go ahead.
The European leverage is financial. After the Union warned that funding could be cut unless reforms were carried out, President Mahmoud Abbas publicly promised that 2026 would be the year of Palestinian democracy. Abbas, who is 90 and was elected in 2005, rules largely by decree, so postponing the Palestinian elections would revive a pattern that began when he cancelled the 2021 presidential vote. Diplomats in Brussels know that a second cancellation would damage the reform narrative that underpins European payments.
Practical obstacles to the Palestinian elections are real. The head of the election commission, Jamil Al Khalidi, says preparations continue for voting in both Gaza and the West Bank, but Israel is blocking the entry of ballot boxes and voting ink into Gaza, so organisers are sourcing alternatives. Settlement expansion and violence in the West Bank add further doubts. An August poll by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research found that 44 percent of 1,270 respondents did not believe the Palestinian elections would take place on schedule.
The timing puts the Palestinian elections squarely on the European agenda. Foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on 12 October under High Representative Kaja Kallas are due to discuss Gaza and the West Bank with the region’s electoral cycle in mind. Leaders then gather in Brussels on 15 and 16 October, where the Middle East is on the list of topics. Any statement will have to balance support for a credible vote against the risk of backing a flawed one.
Three questions will decide how Europe responds. The first is whether any delay comes with a firm new date and a published reform timetable, or only with vague language. The second is whether candidates and parties across the political spectrum can register and campaign freely, including in Gaza. The third is whether the Union stands ready to deploy election observers, as it has signalled in the past, in conditions that allow a meaningful assessment.
For the EU, the credibility of its own conditionality is also at stake. If funding warnings are issued and then quietly dropped, Palestinian leaders and regional partners will draw the obvious conclusion. If they are enforced rigidly during a security emergency, Brussels could be accused of punishing a population that has little say in how it is governed. A clear public benchmark, tied to a dated commitment, would serve European interests better than silence.
The coming days will therefore show how much weight Brussels can still bring to bear. Whether the Palestinian elections go ahead on 28 November or slip into 2027, the outcome will shape European funding, its role in any post-war settlement, and its standing as a mediator in 2026.
