RAMALLAH — President Mahmoud Abbas has announced that elections for the Palestinian National Council (PNC) will be held on November 1, state-run Wafa news agency reported.
This is the first time that members of the PLO parliament are elected by popular vote rather than by appointment.
“Elections will be held as far as possible inside and outside Palestine to ensure the widest possible participation of the Palestinian people, wherever they live,” Abbas said in the proclamation.
Abbas, who heads the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the ruling Palestinian Authority (PA), had previously postponed elections unless all occupied Palestinians were allowed to vote.
Critics have accused him of making excuses to avoid defeat in the presidential election, as opinion polls show his popularity is declining. He has also been criticized for a security agreement with Israel that has led to a crackdown on refugee camps, particularly in Jenin.
The PNC has served as the PLO’s parliament in exile for many years.
It is controlled by Abbas’s political movement, Fatah, co-founded by Yasser Arafat, who died in 2004.
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