Fatah reappoints Abbas as party chairman as 7th congress kicks off

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- The Fatah party kicked off its seventh conference on Tuesday by reappointing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as chairman of the political faction, as hundreds of members of the movement and other political groups gathered in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

According to official Palestinian Authority (PA) news agency Wafa, the attendees unanimously re-elected Abbas as Fatah chairman during the opening of the conference, dashing speculations that the event would lead to serious discussions of a post-Abbas future for the ruling party of the PA.

Member of the conference's preparatory committee, Hussein al-Sheikh also announced that the committee had elected a presidential committee for the conference. The committee included Abdullah al-Ifranji as head, Intisar al-Wazir as deputy head, Anas al-Khatib as a member, and Mahmoud Diwan as the rapporteur.

An estimated 1,322 out of an expected 1,411 participants, which included Fatah members from the West Bank, the besieged Gaza Strip and the diaspora, attended the event, according to the spokesperson of the conference.

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