Wong joins call for Abbas to reverse election delay

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has joined her British, Canadian and French counterparts in calling on the Palestinian Authority to reconsider its decision to postpone legislative and presidential elections until September 2027.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, the four ministers said they deeply regretted President Mahmoud Abbas’s decision, noting that nearly two decades had passed since the last Palestinian Legislative Council elections and five years since the planned 2021 vote was postponed.

“An entire generation of Palestinians has reached adulthood without the opportunity to choose their elected representatives,” the statement said. “This delay will be deeply disappointing and once again deprive Palestinians of the opportunity to vote and will further erode public confidence in democratic institutions.”

The ministers said credible elections were an important element of the reform commitments Abbas and the PA made, including democratic renewal and accountable governance, in line with the June 2025 New York Declaration.

“Strengthening Palestinian governance is essential to continue building the institutional foundations of a viable two-state solution,” they said, calling on the PA to hold the elections without further delay.

They also called on Israel to refrain from actions that could impede the conduct of elections, and reiterated that Hamas can have no role in the future governance of Palestine.

The statement comes a year after Australia recognised Palestinian statehood, a decision Labor conditioned on the PA reforming, democratic elections being held and Hamas having no governing role. Wong acknowledged last month that there was still “work to do” for Palestine to function as a sovereign state.

Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) executive director Colin Rubenstein called on the government to hold the PA accountable for breaking a key commitment underpinning recognition, saying recognition should not remain a blank cheque.

“The Albanese Government must explain what consequences will follow for the PA’s repeated refusal to abide by the very commitments upon which recognition was based,” Rubenstein said.

He said reforms had been cosmetic and that payments to convicted terrorists and their families continued under new administrative arrangements, despite an end to them being among the commitments Australia received.

“It is deeply concerning that while Australia has imposed punitive measures on Israel, the PA faces no comparable consequences and a continued free pass for its failures,” he said.

Rubenstein said the government’s claim that its Middle East policy was driven by advancing a two-state resolution would ring hollow until it showed it could impose accountability on the Palestinian side.

Abbas cancelled the November vote on Saturday, citing Israeli military attacks, settlement expansion, settler violence and movement restrictions in the West Bank, along with Israel’s withholding of Palestinian tax revenues. His decree also pointed to security and humanitarian conditions in Gaza, the incomplete withdrawal of Israeli forces and the lack of progress on reconstruction.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar rejected that account.

“Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian corrupt dictator, who has not held elections in over twenty years, has once again deceived the international community,” Sa’ar posted on X. “His attempt to drag Israel into this, falsely claiming that Israel imposed obstacles to holding elections, is yet another ridiculous lie designed to evade responsibility and accountability.”

The Palestinians have not held legislative or presidential elections since 2005-06, after which Hamas seized control of Gaza. Abbas has ruled by decree since his mandate expired in 2009, and has announced and then delayed elections repeatedly.

Both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad supported the latest postponement. Hamas political bureau member Basem Naim said the scheduled elections had been premature.

Times of Israel and Reuters contributed to this report.