Yasser Abbas, the eldest son of the Palestinian Authority (PA) President, has won a seat on the Central Committee—the highest governing body of the Fatah movement. The election took place on Saturday at the conclusion of the movement’s general congress, which was held simultaneously across Ramallah, Gaza, Cairo, and Beirut.
اضافة اعلان
Yasser Abbas, 64, is a prominent businessman who owns several companies operating across multiple sectors in the Palestinian territories. He emerged on the political stage approximately five years ago following his appointment to the position of "Special Envoy of the President."
According to preliminary results released early Sunday, Marwan Barghouti—a prominent leader imprisoned by Israel since 2002—retained his seat on the committee, securing the highest number of votes.
Other key figures who retained their seats include Hussein al-Sheikh, Deputy President of the PA and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO); Mahmoud al-Aloul, Deputy Chairman of Fatah; Jibril Rajoub, Secretary-General of the previous Central Committee; and Tawfik Tirawi, the former head of Palestinian Intelligence.
Notable newcomers to the committee include Majid Faraj, the current head of the Palestinian General Intelligence Service, and Zakaria Zubeidi, 50, a former leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades—Fatah's military wing in the Jenin camp. Zubeidi was released from an Israeli prison last year as part of a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas.
The congress administration announced that voter turnout for the Central Committee and Revolutionary Council elections reached 94.64%, with 2,507 members casting their ballots.
A total of 59 candidates competed for 18 seats on the Central Committee, while 450 candidates vied for 80 seats on the Revolutionary Council.
Mounir Salameh, the Executive Director of the congress, stated that the final results for both the Central Committee and the Revolutionary Council elections would be officially announced later Sunday morning during a press conference in Ramallah.
The Fatah General Congress commenced last Thursday, kicking off with the re-election of Mahmoud Abbas as the movement's chairman. Abbas has led the movement, the PA, and the PLO for more than two decades.
During an emergency Arab League summit held in Cairo on March 4, Abbas pledged to "restructure the leadership frameworks of the Palestinian state and inject new blood into the PLO, the Fatah movement, and state institutions." Since then, he has implemented several administrative changes, most notably within the security services.
Multiple regional and international parties have been calling for structural reforms within the Palestinian Authority, which has long suffered from a stagnation of democratic political processes. These reforms are seen as a prerequisite for the PA to assume governance of Gaza post-war—a requirement that was also highlighted in U.S. President Donald Trump's peace plan for the Strip.
Source: AFP
