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November 28, 2024 | 04:43 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Palestine Mahmoud Abbas announced his temporary successor on Wednesday, November 27, effectively preempting Hamas from assuming power in the event of a leadership vacuum.
Despite his term as the head of the Palestinian Authority expiring in 2009, the 89-year-old man has remained in power, resisting calls for a successor or a vice president.
Under current Palestinian law, the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) would typically assume leadership in the event of a leadership vacuum. However, Hamas holds a majority in the PLC, a body dissolved by Abbas in 2018 due to longstanding tensions between Hamas and Fatah, which overthrew the Palestinian Authority from power in the Gaza Strip in 2007.
In his decree, Abbas designated Rawhi Fattuh, the Chair of the Palestinian National Council (PNC), as the interim leader should the presidency become vacant. “If the position of the president of the national authority becomes vacant in the absence of the legislative council, the Palestinian National Council president shall assume the duties... temporarily,” the decree said.
The decree also mandates the holding of general elections within 90 days following the transition period, with the possibility of extension under extraordinary circumstances.
The Palestinian National Council, the parliament of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), comprises over 700 members from Palestine and the diaspora. Hamas, which is not a member of the PLO, lacks representation in the council. Furthermore, PNC members are appointed rather than elected.
President Mahmoud Abbas' announcement coincided with a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon. The Palestinian Authority appears to be in a precarious state, facing internal challenges including a weakened financial position and external pressures from Israeli right-wing ministers advocating for the annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank.
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