Since Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree in mid-January setting the dates for elections, controversy has escalated within the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) regarding the intention of the captured leader, Marwan Barghouti, to run in the elections.
Last week, after the end of the dialogue sessions in Cairo between the Palestinian factions and their agreement to respect the elections and support their conduct, Hussein Al-Sheikh, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, went on an exceptional visit to Barghouti in his prison, in order to convince him to refrain from running for the presidential elections and to support a unified list for Fatah in the legislative elections.
On Saturday evening, the Fatah leadership held a meeting headed by Abbas to discuss the results of the visit, and the movement said that the president had received a letter from Barghouti, in which the latter confirmed that Fatah would run for the Legislative Council elections with one unified list.
In response, Hatem Abdel Qader, a member of the movement’s revolutionary council, said in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net that Barghouti's message to the president supports the formation of a unified list, but with conditions.
According to Abbas’s decree, presidential and legislative elections and the National Assembly elections will take place in May, July and August.
According to Abdel Qader, Barghouti decided to run in the presidential elections only, and he supports one list for Fatah on the condition that it represents the various movement currents, that the list is chosen transparently and in accordance with democratic principles and standards, and that its candidates are qualified and able to gain the confidence of the Palestinian voter, in light of what he called Abdul Al-Qadir "The eroding confidence in the movement due to the current practices of the executive authority."
Abdel Qader said: We hope that the Central Committee and "Abu Mazen (Abbas)" will fulfill Barghouti's recommendation, and that an inclusive bloc will be formed that will be chosen on democratic grounds and not on the basis of patronage.
List of Barghouti Movement
In the event that the official Fatah list did not meet Barghouti's aspirations, Abdel Qader said that what he called the "Marwan Movement" might form another list, without being a candidate in it.
According to the Fatah leader, "Marwan Movement" is a group of Fatah leaders who support Barghouti's ideas, and believe that it can send new hope to the movement and the Palestinian political system.
In Ramallah, there is talk about a list that Nasser Al-Kidwa, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, will form, with the support of Barghouti.
Abdelkader said he has not yet decided whether or not he will participate.
In light of the conversations about Muhammad Dahlan, the dismissed leader from Fatah, supporting Barghouti’s list, Abdel Qader said, “Dahlan has a special list that has nothing to do with any list affiliated with Barghouti or any official list of Fatah.”
"There is no alliance on any list between Marwan and Dahlan," he added.
What is Barghouti based on?
Fatah has not yet made a final decision regarding President Abbas’s nomination for the upcoming elections, and Barghouti is based on a preference given by Palestinian opinion polls over the chances of contestants in the legislative and presidential elections.
The latest opinion poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Survey Research, in mid-December last year, showed that 69% of the Palestinians will participate in the upcoming legislative elections, and the unified Fatah list will receive 38% of the votes compared to 34% for the Hamas list.
If Barghouti formed a list independent of the official Fatah list, 25% of the public would vote for it, and 19% for the official Fatah list.
If Dahlan forms a list in the face of the official Fatah list, he will receive 7% of the vote compared to 27% for the official movement list.
And if presidential elections were held and only two were nominated, Abbas and Ismail Haniyeh (head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas), the first would receive 43% of the vote and the second would 50%, and if the competition was between Barghouti and Haniyeh, Barghouti would receive 61% and Haniyeh 37%. .
The release or appointment of a deputy
While political analysts read Barghouti’s intention to run in the presidential elections as an attempt to push for his release after 19 years in Israeli prisons with a life sentence of 5 times, Abdel Qader said that his candidacy does not involve personal goals, and “we believe that what encouraged Marwan This is the Palestinian public opinion that has supported it more than once. "
Abdel Qader said that Marwan has a different vision and strategy program that the Palestinians should try.
"Now there is a need and a national interest to change the political class that has brought the Palestinians to a dead end," he added.
If Barghouti wins while he is under captivity, Abdel Qader said, "This will not be a problem. According to the Palestinian law, he can nominate himself from prison, and if he is elected, local and international pressure will be mobilized to release him, and even if he remains in prison, he can be appointed as his deputy."
Form the list by criteria
Fatah leaders in the Central Committee and those close to it preferred to refrain from talking about Barghouti’s candidacy for the presidency, and his requirements for supporting a single list of the movement in legislative elections.
However, the Secretary of the Movement’s Central Committee, Jibril Rajoub, said that Fatah will contest the legislative elections with one list, according to criteria that will be determined in the coming weeks. He said that these criteria “will be shared by everyone.”
During the "Today file" program, on Palestine TV on Sunday evening, Rajoub spoke about the Central Committee's consensus and unity of its position, including its two captive members Barghouti and Karim Younis, to run for elections with a unified list.
The Secretary of the Central Committee called on the people of the movement to join hands and unite in what was called the "articulated station" that Fatah is going through.
According to Rajoub, the Central Committee will vote on forming the list, provided that the selection of its candidates begins next week and becomes ready in March.