Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced on Friday that parliamentary and presidential elections will be held in the country for the first time in 15 years.
Abbas said in a decree that the parliamentary elections will take place on May 22 and the presidential race on July 31 in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
They will be the first votes of their kind since 2006, when the Hamas militant group won a resounding victory and clashed with Abbas’s Fatah party, plunging the Palestinian Authority (PA) into political crisis. Hamas later took control of the Gaza Strip in a bloody battle.
Abbas first won the presidency in a 2005 election to determine the late Yasser Arafat’s successor.
Although Fatah and Hamas have pledged to hold elections for over a decade, they have failed to mend their bitter divide, and it is far from certain that votes will actually be cast later this year. Hamas last week informed Abbas that it would agree to run in elections in an attempt at reconciliation.
In a statement Friday, Hamas expressed its “strong eagerness to make a success of this commitment,” according to The Associated Press.
“We have worked for the past few months to overcome all hurdles to reach this day, and we have shown a lot of flexibility,” said a statement. It also called for dialogue before the vote.
The election could pose immense dangers to both parties, given growing discontent over a worsening coronavirus pandemic, lack of progress in the pursuit of a state, poverty and more.
However, it appears that Abbas is in particularly grave political danger; The 85-year-old leader is plagued with health problems and is particularly unpopular, and it is possible he could lose to a Hamas candidate.
Abbas’s PA has been sidelined during the Trump administration, which took a slew of actions defended by Israel, including moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and closing the PA’s diplomatic mission in Washington. But if the election continues, it could have huge consequences for both Israel and the US.
If Abbas loses to a Hamas candidate, it would raise significant problems over the governance of the West Bank. It would be next to impossible for a candidate of the militant group, recognized by Israel and many Western countries as a terrorist group, to take control of the West Bank, over which Jerusalem retains overall security control.
Abbas’s government in the West Bank is coordinating with Israel on security issues, but Hamas has fought three wars with the Israeli military since it took over the Gaza Strip.
A Hamas victory could also be a big wrench for the president-elect Joe Biden
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However, it is still uncertain whether votes will actually be cast later this year, given that no elections have been held in recent years. It is also possible that Israel is blocking voting in East Jerusalem, which could also jeopardize the elections.