Poll: 74% of Palestinians do not want Abbas as president

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas holds a joint press conference in Ankara, Turkiye on August 23, 2022 [Ali Balıkçı – Anadolu Agency]

Three-quarters of Palestinians do not want Palestinian Authority (PA), Fatah and PLO President Mahmoud Abbas as their president, Al-Resalah newspaper reported yesterday.

According to the news site, the poll was conducted between 13-17 September, ahead of Abbas’ speech before the UN General Assembly this week.

It found that 26 per cent of the respondents are content with Abbas, while 71 per cent are not.

Meanwhile, 74 per cent of those polled said they did not want Abbas as their president, with only 23 per cent saying they wanted him to remain as president.

Abbas has issued several decrees that prevented carrying out parliamentary and presidential elections that most Palestinians believe were carried out met Israel’s desire to keep Palestinians internally divided.

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