Politics of the Palestinian National Authority

The politics of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) take place within the framework of a semi-presidential multi-party republic, with a Legislative Council, an executive president, and a prime minister leading the cabinet.

Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed the Gaza–Jericho Agreement, which established the Palestinian National Authority, a governing body for the interim period pending final status negotiations.

The president of the State of Palestine is the highest-ranking political position (equivalent to head of state) in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). The president is elected by popular elections.

The prime minister is appointed by the president and thus not directly elected by the Palestinian Legislative Council (parliament) or Palestinian voters.

Unlike the prime ministers office in many other nations, the Palestinian prime minister does not serve as a member of the legislature while in office. Instead, the appointment is made independently by the ruling party. The prime minister is expected to represent the majority party or ruling coalition in the parliament.

The leadership of the PNA has been disputed since the national unity government broke up on 14 June 2007 when President Abbas declared a state of emergency moved to dismiss Ismail Haniyeh as Prime Minister but he and the Palestinian Legislative Council did not acknowledge the legitimacy of this step.Fighting between Fatah and Hamas has left the former in control of the West Bank and the latter in control of the Gaza Strip resulting in separate de facto leaderships in the territories both with dubious constitutional legitimacy. The situation was aggravated on 9 January 2009 when Abbas's term of office should have expired and Hamas appointed its own acting president in the form of Abdel Aziz Duwaik, who as the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council can take over the post for 60 days under certain circumstances.

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