Bethlehem, August 12: Vote counting in the elections for the Revolutionary Council of the Fatah party will take at least three days, due to the large number of candidates and problems with the parallel elections to the Central Committee, election officials said Wednesday.
Counting the votes for the Revolutionary Council only began Wednesday morning, officials said. A total of 617 candidates are contesting the 80 seats up for grabs in the
120-seat council. The remaining 40 seats will be filled by appointment.
The Revolutionary Council plays a legislative role in Fatah’s leadership.
Vote counting in the elections to the Fatah Central Committee, the party’s highest decision-making body, was still continuing after former Palestinian premier Ahmed Qureia demanded a recount of some ballot boxes.
Provisional results showed him missing out on a seat on the committee by only two votes.
Qureia, who headed peace talks with Israel last year, is the most prominent member of the Fatah establishment not to be re-elected to the committee, according to the provisional results released Tuesday.
Only four members of the outgoing Central Committee were re- elected to the 23-member body. Eighteen members are elected, along with four appointees and Palestinian President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas was re-elected Fatah head during a show-of-hands vote at the Fatah convention, which has just been held in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
—–Agencies