By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ali Sawafta
Sept 24 (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reaffirmed plans to hold legislative elections on November 28, the first such vote in 20 years despite serious domestic doubts it will go ahead, as he seeks to advance internationally backed reforms.
Abbas, 90, used a pre-recorded video address to the UN General Assembly to condemn US restrictions on the Palestinian delegation’s access to UN headquarters, calling them a breach of Washington’s obligations as host nation.
“We have completed the national reform program to which we committed ourselves before our people and the international community,” Abbas said in his remarks from Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
“We are proceeding toward legislative elections on 28 November of this year,” said Abbas, under pressure from the United States to enact reforms to address issues of corruption and governance it says he has failed to implement.
The Palestinians have not held legislative or presidential elections since 2005-06 after which Abbas’ rival, the Islamist group Hamas, seized control of Gaza, ousting his loyalists. Abbas this year decreed a presidential election would take place in 2027 but he has yet to set a date.
FRANCE APPEALS FOR ELECTIONS
France, which recognized a Palestinian state last year, has urged that the planned legislative and presidential elections proceed. Paris has advised the Palestinian Authority on organizing the vote and pushed for EU election observers.
At the UN on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said France would keep pressing Abbas to honor a commitment he made in a letter last year to French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to hold elections.
“They must be held. They are a way for the Palestinian people to express their legitimate aspiration to self-determination and to make their voice heard, something that is unfortunately not the case today,” Barrot told reporters.
DOUBTS REMAIN
While promising a legislative vote, Abbas, elected president of the Palestinian Authority in 2005, has ignored calls, including from within his own mainstream Fatah movement, to hold a presidential election.
Fatah officials have cast doubt over whether the vote can take place, with some demanding dialogue with other factions and others citing Israel’s refusal to allow ballot boxes, election papers and ink to enter the Gaza Strip.
Further clouding the election’s prospects, Fatah has yet to announce whether it has assembled a candidate list for the vote. The Palestinian Central Election Commission announced it would begin receiving candidate applications this coming Saturday.
Hamas said it would take part in the election, adding that it was in discussions with other groups in an effort to form a coalition to challenge Abbas’ Fatah movement, including with former Fatah leader Mohammad Dahlan, who is based in the United Arab Emirates and has long been seen as a possible successor to Abbas.
The Trump administration said last week it would deny entry to Palestinian officials for the UN meeting, extending a ban in place since last year over actions it said were aimed at “internationalizing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” including pursuing cases against Israel at international tribunals.
Abbas, denied a visa as part of the US move, said in his remarks: “We reject these unlawful punitive measures, as well as the accusations and justifications on which they were based.”
He added: “We affirm that we have fulfilled our commitments, completed a comprehensive national reform program, and continued our commitment to international law, the rejection of violence and terrorism.”
Abbas urged the United States to lift the measures, resume dialogue and support international efforts toward implementing a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.
He warned that accelerating Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was fragmenting Palestinian territory and undermining prospects for a Palestinian state.
“Today, we warn of an even greater danger ahead, one that requires international action to stop it,” Abbas said.
“The danger is no longer limited to undermining the two-state solution and preventing the realization of a Palestinian State. It now threatens the very life and existence of the Palestinian people in their homeland.”
Abbas said that 160 countries had so far recognized the State of Palestine and urged other states to do the same.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah, West Bank; Additional reporting by John Irish and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Editing by Howard Goller)
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