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Fatah Primary Results: Lessons from the First Round

(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) Mohammad Yaghi and Ben Fishman - As imperfect and incomplete as the primaries have been, the first round of voting validates the popularity of Fatah's younger generation, which has been struggling for years to wrest control of the movement from the "old guard" that dominates its governing institutions. Fatah held primaries in 5 of 16 electoral districts (Bethlehem, Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, and Tubas), all in the West Bank, representing 30% of the Palestinian voting population. In Jenin and Nablus, leaders of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades finished atop the polling. Only four sitting legislators won their primaries; at least seven failed. A "committee of the wise" headed by Mahmoud Abbas will determine the final Fatah lists of candidates and will be able to substitute names, effectively giving Abbas and the old guard a veto over who will represent Fatah in the general elections. Thus the primaries will be only as influential as the "committee of the wise" allows them to be.
2005-12-02 00:00:00
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