
A senior Palestinian Authority (PA) official said on Thursday that the Palestinian legislative elections might take place on May 22.
Speaking to Voice of Palestine radio and quoted by Xinhua, Azzam el-Ahmad, a member of the central committee of the Fatah Movement, said the PA “presidential” elections will be held two months after the legislative elections.
He added that PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to meet with the Palestinian Central Elections Commission representatives on January 20 to announce dates for holding the legislative, presidential, and national council elections.
Abbas' term as PA chairman was meant to expire in 2009, but he has remained in office in the absence of elections.
No PA elections have taken place since 2006 and similar initiatives in the past have failed to result in elections.
The PA parliament has not met since 2007, when Hamas violently seized control of Gaza from Abbas’ Fatah faction.
Hamas and Fatah have been at odds since the 2007 coup and all attempts to reconcile the warring sides have failed.
Fatah and Hamas later signed a reconciliation deal, under which the PA was to have resumed full control of Gaza, but the deal hit “obstacles” and has never been implemented.
Abbas pledged to hold parliamentary elections within six months in December of 2018 and did not fulfill that promise. He renewed a pledge to hold fresh parliamentary elections in the PA in December of 2019.