Fatah hold first congress since 2009

29 November 2016, 1:59 pm

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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party opens its first congress in seven years today as the 81-year-old seeks to fend off opponents while talk of who will eventually succeed him mounts.

The election of members of Fatah’s parliament and its central committee beginning Friday will signal the direction the oldest Palestinian party will take at a time when Abbas is weakened by his own unpopularity and internal dissent.

While the aging leader has said he has no intention of stepping aside anytime soon, talk of who will eventually succeed him as Palestinian president has intensified. He has not publicly designated a successor.

— AFP