Son of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas elected to top Fatah body

Businessman Yasser Abbas, 64, secured a place on the central committee despite spending most of his time in Canada.The son of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has secured a seat on Fatah’s highest leadership body, as initial results emerged from the movement’s first Congress in the occupied West Bank in a decade.The three-day Eighth General Conference in Ramallah, which began on Thursday and finished on Sunday, came as Fatah faces existential challenges following Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Abbas loyalists sweep Palestinian elections, including some seats in Gazalist 2 of 3West Bank scepticism as Palestinians doubt local elections will change muchlist 3 of 3Joy and desire for change as Gaza’s Deir el-Balah holds electionsend of listYasser Abbas, 64, a businessman who spends most of his time in Canada, joins the central committee after being appointed around five years ago as his father’s “special representative”.With several existing members retaining their seats, the Congress’s outcome was already being criticised.Marwan Barghouti, a popular Palestinian leader held in Israeli prison since 2002, retained his seat on the committee with the highest number of votes, according to figures seen by the AFP news agency.Jibril Rajoub was re-elected as the committee’s secretary-general, while Palestinian Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh retained his position.The Congress had 2,507 voters and a turnout of 94.6 percent, organisers said.Fifty-nine candidates competed for 18 seats on the central committee, while 450 vied for 80 seats on the revolutionary council, the party’s parliament.Counting for the revolutionary council is continuing.Mahmoud Abbas, who was re-elected as head of the movement on Thursday, vowed in his opening address to reform the Palestinian Authority (PA), and hold long-delayed presidential and parliamentary elections.