RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian Authority on Friday announced it will hold its first national elections in more than a decade.

In a statement carried by the Palestinian news agency, WAFA, the PA said that President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday enacted a decree to hold legislative, presidential, and national council elections on three phases later this year.

According to the decree, legislative elections will be held on May 22, 2021, presidential elections on July 31, 2021, and the Palestinian National Council elections on Aug. 31, 2021.

The decree considers the legislative elections, which will be held in the areas administered by the Palestinian Authority, as the first phase for the subsequent formation of the Palestinian National Council, the PLO legislature which represents the Palestinian people at home, abroad, and in the diaspora.

The decree states that the elections of the Palestinian National Council will be held wherever possible.

The signing ceremony of the decree came as Abbas received the chief of the Palestinian election commission, Hanna Nasser, at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah, in the center of the West Bank.

Abbas asked the CEC and all the relevant state agencies to be well prepared for a democratic process that will take place in all the governorates of Palestine, including East Jerusalem. — SG