PLO’s plan: Only those loyal to the PLO can run in local PA elections
PLO Executive Committee member Ahmed Majdalani: "From the Palestinian state within the homeland there will be 200 members elected in direct and free elections as members of the parliament of the State of Palestine. The parliament will exercise its powers and fulfill its role as an elected parliament for the purpose of legislating and drafting laws, including imposing responsibility and demanding accountability, forming a government, monitoring it, and demanding accountability from it. Elections will be held for another 150 members, wherever this is possible outside the homeland, and if not possible, a method of an electoral body or consensus can be adopted… At the time of registration [to participate in elections], a document must accompany the registration that the political party is committed to the PLO and its political program and commitments… No political party is allowed to be a branch of a political party outside the homeland, meaning a political party somewhere else, and it is forbidden for it to receive funding from outside, and it is forbidden for it to have an armed wing, meaning an armed militia or military organization."
[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, Feb. 4, 2026]
The statement "No political party is allowed to be a branch of a political party outside the homeland… and it is forbidden for it to receive funding from outside" is a reference to Hamas being a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and receiving money and instructions from them and Iran.