Senior Fatah leader Jibril Rajoub has won most votes in Fatah's primary elections in Hebron amid charges of widespread fraud and irregularities. Based on semi-final results, Rajoub won some 13,000 votes in Friday's elections.
Hebron is the largest electoral district in the West Bank and the winner gains the second-place position on Fatah's parliamentary list.
Rajoub returned to the West Bank following the conclusion of the Oslo Accords and was entrusted by the late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat with the task of founding the Preventive Security Force (PSF).
Coming second after Rajoub is Abu Ali Yatta, a veteran Fatah leader from the town of Yatta, near Hebron, who is serving a life sentence in Israel, with 12,000 thousand votes. Yatta has already served 25 years in Israeli jails and Israel refuses to free him.
Former speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Rafiq Natshe, former minister of local governance Jamal Shubaki and ex- minister Nabil Amr have also been elected.
Elections in several areas, including Qalqilya and Salfit, have been halted due to "lack of adequate preparations" and "unruly behaviors," according to Fatah officials.
Eyewitnesses told IRNA that in Salfit, south west of Nablus, armed men affiliated with Fatah's armed wing fired into the air and burned some ballot boxes.
