RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party withdrew a senior official from his membership after he announced he would run on his own electoral list, in the latest sign of internal turmoil ahead of the elections planned later this year. .
Nasser al-Kidwa, the 67-year-old nephew of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, announced that he would form his own list of independents, entrepreneurs and young people. Previously, he served as Palestinian Foreign Minister and representative to the United Nations.
He has long been seen as a possible successor to Abbas, 85, and has held talks with popular Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti about whether to join his list. In the end, Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison after a military court convicted him on terrorism charges during the 2000-2005 uprising, refused to support al-Kidwa.
On his own, al-Kidwa is expected to get only a few seats.
Abbas has enacted presidential and parliamentary elections in the coming months. These would be the first general elections since 2006, when the Islamic militant group Hamas won a landslide victory, in part because of divisions within Fatah. This sparked a series of crises and internal clashes that culminated in the bloody takeover of Hamas in Gaza the following year.
There is no certainty that the elections will actually take place. Fatah and Hamas have been deeply divided since Hamas’s takeover of Gaza, and several attempts at reconciliation have failed.
Abbas is also set to face rivalries within Fatah, which could cause other current members or former members to follow al-Kidwa’s footsteps and launch their own lists. This would risk diluting Fatah’s support and paving the way for another Hamas victory.
Abbas’ popularity has plummeted in recent years as he has failed to promote Palestinian hopes for a state or to repair ties with Hamas. There have been no substantive peace negotiations with Israel in more than a decade, and the PA is widely seen to have become increasingly corrupt and autocratic. Abbas, elected for a four-year term in 2005, did not name a successor.