RAMALLAH, May 17 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) concluded the elections on Sunday to choose members of its two highest leadership bodies, the Central Committee and the Revolutionary Council, at the close of its eighth general conference.
A statement by the conference said that voter turnout for the elections reached 94.64 percent.
The results showed the election of nine new members to Fatah's Central Committee. Among them is Zakaria Zubeidi, a former commander of the al-Aqsa Brigades who was recently released from Israeli prisons.
The results also showed that General Intelligence Chief Majed Faraj entered Fatah's Central Committee with the second-highest number of votes after imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti. Yasser Abbas, the son of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governor Laila Ghannam also secured seats on the Central Committee.
The eighth Fatah conference was held simultaneously over three days in four locations: Ramallah, Gaza, Beirut, and Cairo, with the participation of more than 2,580 members.
"I congratulate all Fatah members on this democratic celebration embodied in the eighth Fatah conference. I tell them they have the right to be proud of their affiliation with this movement. Move forward towards the great dream of our Palestinian people: freedom, independence, and the establishment of our independent state with Jerusalem as its capital," Palestinian Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh told Xinhua.
The Central Committee, composed of 18 members, and the Revolutionary Council, with 80 members, are the two highest leadership bodies in the movement.
The eighth Fatah General Conference commenced on Thursday, and on the same day, President Mahmoud Abbas was unanimously elected as head of the movement.
Fatah is the largest Palestinian faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization and has led the Palestinian national struggle for decades. It has also led the Palestinian Authority since its establishment in 1994 under the interim peace agreements with Israel.
The movement held its seventh general conference in Ramallah in 2016, during which Mahmoud Abbas was elected as the movement's leader. ■
