Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced that the authorities will hold the elections for the Palestinian National Council (PNC), the parliament of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), on November 1, according to AFP.
Members of the council will be selected through direct popular vote for the first time in history instead of being chosen by appointments and internal co-option within the movement.
“Elections will be held wherever possible, both inside and outside Palestine, to ensure the broadest possible participation of the Palestinian people wherever they reside,” Abbas said in a decree.
Long regarded as the PLO’s parliament in exile, the PNC has historically been dominated by Fatah, the political faction co-founded by Yasser Arafat.
Crucially, both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which remain outside the PLO framework, do not have representation in the council.
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