Risks and Disadvantages of Postponing Legislative Elections

Writer: Youssef Kamal Hassouna

There is increasing talk about the possibility of postponing the upcoming Palestinian legislative elections, as postponing the legislative elections carries deep strategic, political, and security risks that directly affect the legitimacy of the political system and internal stability. The most prominent of these risks is the political and institutional legitimacy crisis, as postponing the elections leads to an erosion of constitutional legitimacy, weakening the authority's legitimacy both locally and internationally. It also exacerbates internal division, deepens geographical and political rifts, undermines national reconciliation efforts, and entrenches the separation between the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Moreover, canceling or postponing the democratic process causes frustration and despair among the public and political forces, which may translate into protests or unrest and lead to a widening gap between the leadership and the people, especially among the youth who have not participated in any public elections since 2006. They lose faith in the political system and its ability to bring about peaceful change, leading to a decline at both the international and national levels, weakening the negotiating position and international standing. The authority will find it increasingly difficult to garner international support or face external pressures when it lacks democratic backing and popular representation. The inability to confront the occupation's policies in a unified manner and the absence of a unified and elected leadership front weakens the national capacity to formulate a common strategy to confront settlement expansion, creeping annexation, and the economic pressure exerted on our people and the national authority. It is worth noting that there is international pressure to hold legislative elections as part of reforms and legitimacy renewal, and postponing the elections provides justification for some international parties to reduce financial and political support for the authority under the pretext of the absence of democracy and popular mandate.

The Israeli government may exploit the absence of parliament and popular mandate to serve the Israeli narrative to promote internationally that the Palestinian leadership is illegitimate and does not represent the public, which weakens the position of the Palestine Liberation Organization in international forums.

The legislative elections should be a path to unity and an end to division, and a means for change and building a unified strategy to address the political, economic, and security situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The factions and parties must rebuild themselves according to the current reality. Parties should approach the elections with a perspective that places the interests of our people above all partisan considerations and that their goal should not be to exclude anyone from the scene or to dominate it. Rather, it should be about consensus and cooperation to achieve Palestinian unity in the face of the most dangerous phase in our contemporary history since the Oslo Agreement. This can only be achieved when everyone realizes the seriousness of the upcoming phase.