Barring any surprises, on January 9, 2026, Mahmoud Abbas will begin his 22nd year of his first four-year term as Chairman of the Palestinian Authority (PA).
According to PA law, elections for the position of PA Chairman/President are meant to be held every four years. An incumbent, according to the law can only serve for two terms.
As the “Decree issued by a law number ( ) of 2007, pertaining the general elections” provides:1
“2. The presidential office term shall be four years. He/she shall not be elected for more than two terms.”
In violation of the PA law, the last elections for the position of PA Chairman/President were held in 2005. As the elections were boycotted by Hamas, of the potential 1,760,481 voters, only 802,077 Palestinians actually cast their ballot,2 of which only 501,448 voted for Abbas.3 In other words, based on only 28% of the vote, Abbas has remained in power for over 21 years.
Abbas knows perfectly well why he has never allowed additional elections to be held. Consistent polling of the Palestinians over the last decade has shown ever growing dissatisfaction with Abbas. If in 2014, 35% of Palestinians were satisfied with his performance,4 by the last polls published in October 2025, only 23% of Palestinians were satisfied with his performance, and 80% want him to resign.5
The harsh reality is that, according to the last poll, if Abbas were to face off against Hamas’s Khaled Mashaal, the latter would win 63% of the vote.6
While the Oslo Accords envisaged a fully democratic Palestinian entity, the last 30 years of the PA have proven to be more of a despotic never-ending winter – similar to the failure of the so-called “Arab Spring.”
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