Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has extended the registration period for submitting candidacy applications for upcoming legislative elections from 12 to 18 days, as the number of registered electoral lists reached seven.
Official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Abbas issued an amendment to the 2007 General Elections Law to enact the change.
The amendment aims to grant political factions and independent candidates additional time to finalise submissions amidst stringent Israeli military and administrative restrictions on movement, alongside volatile security and political conditions across occupied East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank, and Gaza.
The Central Elections Commission opened candidate registrations on Saturday ahead of the general poll scheduled for November 28, with voting planned across occupied East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank, and Gaza.
Quota requirements
The commission announced on Sunday that it received an application from a seventh electoral list, named Phoenix.
On Saturday, six other lists submitted filings: the Future Palestine Coalition, Justice and Construction, Unity and Democratic Change, the Palestinian National Initiative of Mustafa Barghouti and independents, New Path, and Labour.
Submitting an application does not guarantee automatic qualification, the commission noted, confirming it will review whether each list satisfies statutory criteria before issuing formal notifications within three days.
Candidates contesting the 132-seat Palestinian Legislative Council can run solely via electoral lists rather than individually.
Each slate must field between 16 and 132 candidates and comply with mandatory gender quotas.
If conducted, the vote will represent the first Palestinian parliamentary election since 2006 and the third in Palestinian history, following polls in 1996 and 2006.
The legislature remained paralysed following internal political divisions in 2007 before its constitutional dissolution in 2018.
Planned elections in 2021 were shelved by Abbas over Israel's refusal to permit voting in occupied East Jerusalem.
