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RAMALLAH: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas pledged to press ahead with reforms to the Palestinian Authority at a gathering of his Fatah party on Thursday, saying he was also prepared to hold long-delayed presidential and parliamentary elections.
Fatah kicked off a three-day conference to elect a new central committee, its highest leadership body, for the first time in 10 years as it faces existential challenges in the wake of the Gaza conflict.
The conference is being attended by approximately 2,580 Fatah members, the majority of them in Ramallah, though several hundred are also spread across Gaza, Cairo and Beirut. They are expected to elect 18 representatives to the central committee and 80 to the movement’s parliament, known as the revolutionary council.
“We renew our full commitment to continuing work on implementing all the reform measures we pledged,” Abbas said in an address, also vowing fresh elections, without providing a timeline.
