Abbas successor? PLO approves creation of vice president role

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) voted on Thursday to establish the position of vice president, marking a significant structural change that could open the door for future leadership beyond Mahmoud Abbas, who has led the Palestinian Authority (PA) since 2005, AFP reported.

The decision, confirmed in the official PA news agency Wafa, follows mounting international pressure to modernize PA institutions. These reforms are increasingly viewed as a prerequisite by Arab and Western powers seeking a viable governing framework in Gaza once hostilities subside.

“A vote was held to create the position of vice president,” stated Rizq Namoura, a central council member, during an interview on Palestine TV. He described the result as “almost unanimous,” noting broad support for what would be the PLO’s first-ever second-in-command role.

The new position comes as Abbas, 89, faces growing scrutiny over succession planning and institutional stagnation.

Abbas had first floated the idea during a March summit in Cairo focused on Gaza’s post-war governance, stating his intention to formalize the role within the PLO, which he chairs.

Both the PLO and the PA — the latter being the body with limited administrative control in Judea and Samaria— have faced increasing demands from foreign stakeholders for structural reforms. The PA, which has not held an election since Abbas’s initial victory in 2005, has struggled with declining legitimacy and a growing fiscal crisis.

According to Wafa, 170 of 188 central council members supported the new role. PA officials said that in the event of Abbas’s departure from office, the vice president would assume leadership of the PLO and of the “State of Palestine”.

Abbas announced last November that in the event he is unable to continue serving in his role, the head of the Palestinian National Council, Rawhi Fattouh, will replace him.

In 2008, Fattouh was caught trying to smuggle 3,000 cell phones into Israel from Jordan, with the help of his Israeli-issued VIP pass.

In January 2023, then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant revoked Fattouh’s entry permit, along with those of two other PA officials after they visited a former terrorist prisoner who was released after serving a 40-year sentence for murdering an IDF soldier.