Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas announced on Monday that elections for the Palestinian National Council will be held on November 1, AFP reported, citing the official Wafa news agency.
The council serves as the parliament of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
For the first time, members of the PNC will be chosen through direct popular elections. In the past, members were appointed or selected from within the movement.
Abbas, who heads both the Palestinian Authority and the PLO, issued a decree stating, “Elections will be held wherever possible, both inside and outside Palestine, to ensure the broadest possible participation of the Palestinian people wherever they reside."
The PNC has long functioned as the PLO’s parliament in exile. It is dominated by Fatah, Abbas’s political faction.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which are not part of the PLO, are not represented in the council.
Abbas had previously issued an official decree directing that new elections for the PNC be held before the close of 2025, but that did not materialize.
General elections in the PA were scheduled for 2021, but Abbas officially announced that they would be postponed, likely due to fears that he would those elections to Hamas.
Abbas's term as PA chairman was meant to expire in 2009, but he has remained in office in the absence of elections.