Palestine Legislative election 2026 (Palestinian Legislative Council) — Live Results & Map

The first Palestinian legislative election in twenty years

Palestinians are scheduled to elect a Palestinian Legislative Council on Saturday 28 November 2026. President Mahmoud Abbas issued the decree setting the date on 9 July 2026, calling on voters in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem to take part. It would be the first vote for the legislature since 25 January 2006, and the third in the body's history.

The gap is the point. The Palestinian Authority has not held a national election in two decades. Abbas was elected president in January 2005 for a four-year term that expired in January 2009 and has remained in office ever since. The Legislative Council elected in 2006 was effectively paralysed within eighteen months by the split between Fatah and Hamas, and was formally dissolved in 2018. Since then, legislation has been made by presidential decree — including the decree that set this election, and the amendments to the electoral law that reshaped it.

An election was called once before, for 22 May 2021, and cancelled on 29 April 2021, four weeks out, after Israel gave no assurance that voting could take place in East Jerusalem. By that point 36 lists had been registered and 2.6 million of 2.8 million eligible voters — 93% — had joined the roll. That precedent is the reason this page states plainly what is and is not settled: the date is set by decree and the Central Elections Commission has published its schedule of legal periods, but the vote is not yet a certainty.

What changed in the electoral law

Weeks before the decree, Abbas approved amendments that alter the shape of the chamber and who may contest it:

• The Legislative Council grows from 132 seats to 200.
• The electoral threshold falls to 1%, well below the 2% that applied previously — a level at which a list needs only a small national share to enter.
• The minimum age for candidates drops from 28 to 23.
• At least one in three names on every list must be a woman.
• Candidates must pledge commitment to the Palestine Liberation Organisation, its political programme and the relevant international resolutions.

That last clause is the contested one. The PLO commitment requirement is a condition Hamas has historically rejected, and whether it functions as a bar on the movement's participation is one of the open questions of this election rather than a settled matter. Palestinian commentators have also criticised the wider package as narrowing political competition and strengthening the weight of clan and local networks.

How the vote works

Since the 2007 general elections law the Legislative Council has been elected entirely by closed-list proportional representation in a single national constituency, replacing the mixed system used in 2006. Voters mark one list; seats are distributed among lists clearing the threshold. The election is administered by the Palestinian Central Elections Commission (CEC), an independent body based in Ramallah, which has published the table of legal periods for the 28 November vote under General Elections Law No. 1 of 2007 as amended. Six seats are reserved for Christian candidates under the standing quota arrangements.

The presidency is not on this ballot. The decree covers the legislature only; a presidential election would require a separate call.

The last election, in January 2006

The 2006 election used a mixed system: 66 seats by proportional representation from national lists and 66 in multi-member districts. Hamas, standing as Change and Reform, won 44.45% of the proportional vote to Fatah's 41.43% — a gap of barely three points — but the district half converted that into a decisive majority.

Independents took the remaining 4 district seats. The single national constituency now used means that a 2026 result cannot repeat that pattern: with no district half, seats will track the national list vote closely, and the three-point margin that produced a 74–45 chamber in 2006 would produce something close to a tie under the current rules.

What followed the 2006 vote is why this election matters beyond the seat count. A national unity government formed in March 2007 collapsed within months; Hamas took control of Gaza in June 2007; Abbas dismissed the Hamas-led government, and Palestinian governance has been split between Ramallah and Gaza ever since. Successive reconciliation agreements — Cairo in 2009, the 2014 unity government, the 2017 Cairo deal — each promised elections that were not held.

What decides whether this vote happens

Three conditions sit above the campaign. The first is East Jerusalem: Israel has not given the guarantees for voting there that sank the 2021 attempt, and the Palestinian leadership has consistently held that a vote excluding East Jerusalem is not acceptable. The second is Gaza, where the destruction of the war, mass displacement and the absence of a functioning civil administration make organising polling stations and a voter roll a problem of a different order from anything the Central Elections Commission has faced. The third is Hamas's participation, which turns on the PLO-commitment clause and on whether a vote can be organised in the territory it has governed since 2007.

Palestinian public priorities, as measured by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in August 2026, are led by unifying the West Bank and Gaza (19%) and stopping the killing in Gaza (18%), followed by the economy (15%), rebuilding Gaza (11%), confronting settler violence (10%) and combating corruption (9%).

How ElectioMap will cover it

This page will publish the official result from the Central Elections Commission as it is released — list shares to two decimal places, seats in the new Legislative Council, and turnout, each captioned with how much of the count the figure rests on. No exit polls, projections or forecasts are published here, and no leading list will be named before the count settles it. If the election is postponed again, this page will say so and record why, rather than quietly carrying a date that no longer holds.

Frequently asked questions

When is the 2026 Palestinian legislative election?

Saturday 28 November 2026. President Mahmoud Abbas issued the decree setting the date on 9 July 2026, and the Central Elections Commission has since published the table of legal periods for the vote. It would be the first legislative election since 25 January 2006.

Why has there been no election since 2006?

The Legislative Council elected in 2006 was paralysed by the split between Fatah and Hamas, which took control of Gaza in June 2007, and it was formally dissolved in 2018. Successive reconciliation agreements in 2009, 2014 and 2017 each promised elections that were not held. An election called for 22 May 2021 was cancelled on 29 April 2021, after Israel gave no assurance that voting could take place in East Jerusalem.

How many seats are being elected, and how?

Two hundred, up from 132 under amendments approved in 2026. The whole chamber is filled by closed-list proportional representation in a single national constituency covering the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, with a 1% threshold. At least one in three candidates on each list must be a woman, six seats are reserved for Christian candidates, and the minimum age for candidates has been lowered from 28 to 23.

Can Hamas take part?

That is unresolved. The amended law requires candidates to pledge commitment to the Palestine Liberation Organisation, its political programme and the relevant international resolutions — a condition Hamas has historically rejected. Whether it operates as a bar on the movement's participation, and whether polling can be organised in Gaza at all, are among the open questions of this election.

What happened in the 2006 election?

Hamas, standing as Change and Reform, won 44.45% of the proportional vote against Fatah's 41.43%, but the mixed system then in use — 66 proportional seats and 66 in districts — turned that three-point margin into 74 seats against 45. That system has since been replaced by full national proportional representation, so a similar vote split would now produce a far closer chamber.

Is the presidency also being elected?

No. The July 2026 decree covers the Legislative Council only. A presidential election would require a separate call. Mahmoud Abbas has been president since January 2005; his four-year term expired in January 2009.

Who runs the election, and when will results be available?

The Palestinian Central Elections Commission, an independent body based in Ramallah, administers the vote and publishes the results. This page will show its official figures as they are released — list shares to two decimal places, seats and turnout, each captioned with how much of the count they rest on. If the election is postponed, this page will say so.

Compiled and reviewed from official results by ElectioMap. See our data methodology.