Paris calls for annulment of Abbas’s decision to postpone elections

France has called on the Palestinian authorities to annul President Mahmoud Abbas’s decision to postpone parliamentary and presidential elections and expressed regret over this decision, according to a statement by the spokesperson of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Abbas postponed the parliamentary elections, originally scheduled for next month, to September 11, 2027, and set the presidential elections for the same date, according to a report relayed by the Parisian daily Le Monde, noting that the postponement was attributed to Israel and the security situation in the Palestinian territories.

In the statement from the spokesperson of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was emphasized that “twenty years after the last national vote in Palestine and five years after the postponement of parliamentary elections scheduled for 2021, this decision once again deprives the Palestinian people of the right to express themselves democratically at the polls.” Paris “calls on the Palestinian authorities to annul their decision and to hold parliamentary and presidential elections as soon as possible throughout the territory of Palestine,” added the unnamed spokesperson.

The spokesperson also stated that France is ready “to, in coordination with its European partners, support the smooth conduct of this process, including through the European Union Election Observation Mission, launched at its request.” The Le Monde report relays statements from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.