Abbas Approves National Council Electoral System and Sets Polling Date for 2026

It was officially announced in Ramallah that the President of the State of Palestine and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Mahmoud Abbas, has approved the electoral system for the Palestinian National Council for 2026. This legal step follows the system's approval by the Organization's Executive Committee, in an effort to organize the electoral process and ensure its inclusivity for Palestinians in all their locations.

The Palestinian Presidency has set November 1, 2026, as the official date for these elections, which aim to inject new blood into the Organization's institutions. This entitlement is seen as a strategic step to enhance democratic participation and consolidate the principles of political pluralism in the Palestinian arena, which is burdened with challenges.

Under the new system, elections will adopt the principle of full proportional representation through electoral lists in a secret, general, and direct ballot. The law stipulated that the occupied Palestinian territories be considered a single electoral district, while each area in the diaspora where conditions for holding elections are available will be treated as an independent electoral district.

The system set the number of National Council seats at 350, distributed precisely to ensure balance between the interior and exterior; 200 seats were allocated to represent Palestinians in the occupied territories. The Palestinian diaspora received 150 seats, with the system emphasizing the protection of this quota and the impermissibility of reducing it under any political or field circumstances.

In exceptional cases where it is impossible to conduct the electoral process in some refugee and diaspora areas, the system provided clear legal alternatives to ensure representation. These alternatives include resorting to the electoral college or national consensus that brings together political forces in those areas, or direct appointment according to the criteria specified by the approved electoral system.

The system also addressed the institutional relationship between the House of Representatives and the Palestinian National Council, emphasizing the principle of functional integration while maintaining the independence of each institution. According to the legal article, every member elected to the Palestinian House of Representatives automatically becomes a member of the National Council throughout their parliamentary term, without increasing the total number of seats.

Official sources explained that this linkage aims to unify the legislative authority internally and connect it to the general structure of the PLO, the legitimate and sole representative of the Palestinian people. If the election dates for both councils coincide, the winners of the House of Representatives seats will automatically occupy the two hundred seats allocated to the Palestinian territories in the National Council.

Through these amendments, the Palestinian leadership seeks to update the organizational structure of the PLO and renew its popular legitimacy before the international community. The Presidency affirms that these steps represent a fundamental national milestone to complete efforts aimed at expanding the base of popular participation in Palestinian national decision-making and protecting the national project from current challenges.

Adoption of this system comes in the context of developing the institutional structure of the Palestine Liberation Organization and renewing the legitimacy of its representative institutions.