Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas postpones legislative elections another year

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas postponed what would have been the first Palestinian elections in nearly 20 years, issuing a decree to further delay voting for the Palestinian Legislative Council almost another year. Rather than take place as scheduled next month, the decree issued Friday pushes the elections back to Sept. 11, 2027, according to WAFA, the official Palestinian news agency. Presidential elections, which have not taken place for more than two decades, are scheduled for the same day. The postponement leaves entrenched Palestinian leaders unchallenged and threatens to further erode the Palestinian Authority’s credibility among ordinary Palestinians and donor countries who fund it. The internationally backed body is dominated by Abbas' party, Fatah, and has administered semiautonomous parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank since agreements reached in the 1990s. It has grown increasingly unpopular throughout Abbas’ presidency.