Mahmoud Abbas Casts Ballot in Fatah Leadership Elections in Ramallah, Gaza, Cairo, and Beirut

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas cast his ballot in internal Fatah leadership elections held at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah, with voting for the movement’s Central Committee and Revolutionary Council at the Ahmad Shuqairi Hall.

“Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has cast his ballot in internal Fatah leadership elections held at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah”

Al Jazeera

The leaders were elected for the movement’s Central Committee and Revolutionary Council at the Ahmad Shuqairi Hall on Saturday, and Abbas pressed to ensure the success of the democratic process that he said would reflect the unity of the movement and its commitment to renewing its leadership institutions.

Al Jazeera

Abbas said, “This year is the year of democracy,” and he described the congress as Fatah’s highest decision-making body while noting the Eighth congress was originally due in 2021 but delayed for five years.

The election is taking place at volatile locations including Ramallah, Gaza, Cairo, and Beirut, where nearly 2,580 members are participating across four locations.

WAFA said voting began at 10:00 a.m. and was scheduled to continue until 4:00 p.m., followed immediately by vote counting and the announcement of results leading to the conference’s final statement.

As the conference unfolded at a volatile juncture in Palestinian history amid Israel’s genocidal war, Abbas framed the gathering as a democratic step and said, “Today is the Eighth Conference of Fatah, and we are preparing for the elections of the National Council in November.”

Dawn reported that Abbas pledged to press ahead with reforms to the Palestinian Authority and said he was also prepared to hold long-delayed presidential and parliamentary elections, while Fatah kicked off a three-day conference to elect a new central committee for the first time in 10 years.

Anadolu Ajansı

Dawn said the conference is being attended by approximately 2,580 Fatah members, with the majority in Ramallah and several hundred spread across Gaza, Cairo and Beirut, and it said the event is expected to elect 18 representatives to the central committee and 80 to the revolutionary council.

Dunya News, citing AFP, quoted Abbas saying, “We renew our full commitment to continuing work on implementing all the reform measures we pledged,” while also noting he vowed fresh elections without providing a timeline.

Dawn added that Abbas and the Palestinian Authority are under mounting pressure from the United States, the European Union and Arab states to implement reforms and hold elections, amid accusations of corruption and political stagnation and declining legitimacy among Palestinians.

The question of succession loomed over the congress, with analysts seeing the process as a move to weaken democratic mechanisms and install a circle of loyalists to manage the transition, while the Fatah leadership has been criticised for prioritising loyalty by “flooding” the congress with more than 2,500 members.

“- Published Top leaders of the main Palestinian political faction, Fatah, are electing its highest decision-making body, at its first major conference in a decade”

BBC

Dawn said Fatah’s central committee is expected to play a key role in the post-Abbas era and named Jibril Rajoub, the current secretary general of the committee, and PA deputy Hussein al-Sheikh as key figures competing to replace Abbas.

Rajoub told AFP ahead of the congress that the Palestinian national movement faces some of its “most serious challenges in our struggle,” and he expressed hope the conference would contribute to “ensuring and protecting the establishment of a Palestinian state on the world’s agenda and protecting the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people”.

Dunya News also reported that major figures were absent from Thursday’s conference, notably Nasser al-Qudwa, who said, “This conference is illegitimate, and this leadership that has usurped power is illegitimate and its time is up,” while also describing Yasser Abbas as on the ballot to join the central committee.

In the background of the Gaza war, the conference’s outcomes were set to determine the next steps for reforms and elections, with WAFA saying the result of the Eighth General Conference of Fatah is scheduled to be announced on Saturday evening local time.