A look at the impending political turmoil after Abbas (PMW)
-PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is almost 86. He is now in the 17th year of his first four-year term as PA Chairman. In addition to being PA Chairman, Abbas is also the head of the PLO and the Fatah faction.
- In theory, after Abbas, the PA will need to hold elections to decide who will lead the organization.
- Palestinian opinion polls show that the leading candidate to replace Abbas is Marwan Barghouti, a terrorist convicted for his part in the murder of five people, who is currently serving five consecutive life sentences in an Israeli prison.
- In general elections, Hamas, an internationally designated terror organization, would most probably win control of the PA.
- In the absence of any real democratic culture, it is quite possible that Abbas will be replaced by one of the other Fatah leaders vying to inherit his position.
