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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Ousted Fatah leader Qureia hints elections unclean |
| 2009-08-14 |
| Ma'an/Agencies - "The forgeries in Iran were much smaller than what we had in Palestine," the Israeli news website Ynet quoted former Palestinian Prime Minister and Central Committee member Ahmad Qureia as saying. The site ran an unsourced interview Thursday, where the ousted Qureia alleged that "arrangements were made behind the scenes that led to having some of the names pushed aside and other names forced in," and accused election winners Muhammad Dahlan, Jibril Rajoub, and Tawfiq At-Tirawi of being "coordinators with the occupation." Qureia wondered out loud about a connection between the men's alleged ties with Israel and their win at the ballot boxes. The allegations follow a series of elections recounts from the Sixth Fatah Congress, where 2,241 members cast their votes for 18 spots in the party's Central Committee and 80 spots in the Revolutionary Council. Results from the first set of elections were affirmed Wednesday following two recounts and quiet accusations of elections irregularities. A Central Committee election upset saw formerly 19th place aide to Palestinian President and Fatah Chair Mahmoud Abbas, At-Tayyib Abdul Rahim, rise to 16th place, while 18th place went to a tie. Qureia himself called for the first recount after he got the 20th highest number of votes, meaning he would no longer be a member of the top body. "There will be no harmony within the group that was elected," said Qureia of the newly elected Central Committee. He called the entry of Abdul Rahim "shameful" and asked "How does such a thing happen?" |
| Posted by:Fred |