Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas consolidated his influence and renewed his legitimacy on Friday after the Palestinian National Council (PNC) in Ramallah re-elected him as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee.
Abbas began a new phase on top of the Palestinian Authority, largely renewing his “legitimacies” despite objections from main opposition factions.
The Palestinian President granted the authorities of the National Council Thursday to the Palestinian Central Council, a move that several observers consider a step to categorically terminate the presence of the National Council, which operates as the PLO Parliament.
Hamas and the Islamic Jihad boycotted the meeting, along with some PLO factions.
During the four-day meeting in Ramallah, Abbas did not change any of his political orientations at the internal or foreign levels, however, he left the door open for other factions who boycotted the session, such as Hamas, to win one of three seats that have yet to be filled in the 18-member Executive Committee.
The President said there are still three vacant seats in the PLO Executive Committee “because we do not want anyone to remain outside of national unity. We do not like to exclude anyone.”
Abbas, who is thought to have achieved most of his goals at the meeting, refused that members of the new Executive Committee be elected, but instead supported choosing them by consultation with the PLO factions who attended the meeting.
The 15 newly elected members are: Mahmoud Abbas (President), Saeb Erekat, Azzam al-Ahmad, Hanan Ashrawi, Tayseer Khaled, Bassam Salhi, Ahmad Majdalani, Faisal Aranaki, Saleh Ra’fat, Wasel Abu Yousef, Ziad Abu Amr, Ali Abu Zuhri, Adnan Husseini, Ahmad Bayyoud Tamimi, and Ahmad Abu Houli.
Nabil Amro, who was among dozens of candidates who sought to be elected as members of Fatah's key decision-making body, criticized the annulment of elections and said he preferred to see ballot boxes at the National Council choose members of the Executive Committee instead of clapping hands.
Hamas on Friday dismissed the results of the PNC meeting.
“We don't recognize the results of this meeting, which don't reflect the will of our people and which lack any legal basis,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum tweeted.
