Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas signed a decree on Thursday slating a legislative election for November 28, setting the stage for what would mark the first parliamentary vote in the PA-controlled territories since 2006, DW reported.

"The presidential decree calls on the Palestinian people in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to participate in free and direct legislative elections to elect members of the Palestinian Legislative Council on the date specified," the Palestinian Authority's official Wafa news agency reported.

Abbas, 90, originally secured the PA chairmanship in 2005 under a four-year mandate that technically expired in 2009. The following year, the rival Hamas terror group defeated Abbas’ Fatah movement in elections, touching off a bitter internal conflict that left the legislature dissolved and electoral processes completely frozen for nearly two decades.

General elections in the PA were scheduled for 2021, but Abbas officially announced that they would be postponed, likely due to fears that he would once again lose to Hamas.

Foreign donor nations providing financial subsidies to the Ramallah-based PA have persistently demanded that legitimate elections be held as a prerequisite for continued funding. Last month, Abbas separately announced plans to hold an election for PA chairman in 2027.