Imprisoned Marwan Barghouti topped preliminary elections for the Central Committee of Fatah by a wide margin, according to unofficial early results released following the movement’s eighth conference.
The results reinforce the jailed leader’s enduring popularity among Fatah amid ongoing succession questions surrounding longtime Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas .
Barghouti, one of Fatah’s most prominent figures and a widely popular Palestinian political leader imprisoned by Israel since the Second Intifada , secured the highest number of votes in the preliminary count.
Many Palestinian analysts consider Barghouti the only major Palestinian political figure capable of forging genuine unity between Fatah and Hamas and rebuilding broader Palestinian national consensus.
The early results also revealed the rising influence of Majed Faraj, head of Palestinian General Intelligence and a close Abbas ally, who came second in the vote ahead of veteran Fatah figure Jibril Rajoub.
Meanwhile, Yasser Abbas, the son of the Palestinian president, secured a seat on the Central Committee, further cementing his standing within the movement amid longstanding speculation over succession politics inside Fatah.
Several veteran figures associated with Fatah’s pro-Abbas old guard retained seats on the committee, including Jibril Rajoub, Tawfiq Tirawi, Mahmoud al-Aloul, Mohammad al-Madani and former Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, who reportedly finished near the bottom of the list.
However, longtime Fatah figures Azzam al-Ahmad and Abbas Zaki lost their seats on the committee.
The results also included the names of former prisoners for the first time, including Zakaria Zubeidi, the former Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades commander from Jenin known internationally for his 2021 escape from Israel’s Gilboa prison, alongside Taysir al-Bardini from Gaza.
Gaza secured four seats on the Central Committee, though only one of the four — Ahmed Helles, also known as Abu Maher — had previously served on the committee following the movement’s seventh conference.
Three others entered the committee for the first time: Ahmed Abu Holi, who oversees the Palestinian refugee affairs portfolio within the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), alongside Iyad Safi and Taysir al-Bardini.
Regarding women’s representation, Dalal Salameh retained her seat on the committee, while Ramallah and al-Bireh governor Laila Ghannam entered the body for the first time.
Under Fatah’s internal regulations, the Central Committee may still appoint three additional members, provided they are not candidates who contested the elections and lost.
Political analyst Hani al-Masri told The New Arab that "the problem lies in the absence of any discussion about a political programme, and the entire effort of the conference focused on competition over seats, and that is what happened".
Al-Masri added that "there was engineering in the elections, but its intelligence lies in the fact that it was not 100 percent, as some names were excluded while opportunities were given to others".
Speaking about Gaza representation, he commented: "Conference members from Gaza demanded that there be seven members from the Strip on the Central Committee, but President Mahmoud Abbas rejected this and said the ballot box would decide."
In an interview with the official Palestine TV on Saturday, Shtayyeh said Fatah had succeeded in creating "organisational alternatives", with the elections held simultaneously across four arenas, Ramallah, Gaza, Cairo and Lebanon, despite what he described as complex political and security conditions.
He said the conference’s success should not be measured solely by elections or leadership appointments, but by its ability to produce "a clear political vision" capable of rebuilding Palestinian national legitimacy and confronting mounting challenges.
Fatah’s eighth conference was held over three days from Thursday until Saturday evening at the Palestinian presidential headquarters in Ramallah, with official results expected to be announced later by the movement’s Central Committee and Revolutionary Council.