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Source: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/771/re1.htm
A Shot in the Foot
(Al-Ahram-Egypt) Khaled Amayreh - Abbas has suspended the primaries of his ruling Fatah Party after it became clear that the polls were fraught with widespread and serious acts of forgery, falsification, and other fraudulent practices. The polling in Nablus witnessed "conspicuous acts of fraud," said Dalal Salama, a Palestinian Legislative Council member from Nablus. Salama pointed out that in many cases there was a marked difference between the number of ballots cast and the actual number of voters. Salama added that "hundreds of ballots" were later added to boost the chances of a specific candidate. Salama's remarks were corroborated by at least 30 losing Fatah candidates who disputed the fairness and transparency of the elections. Fatah has yet to grasp the difference between a revolutionary organization with virtually no accountability to anybody and a political party that is directly responsible, accountable, and answerable to the masses. The ordinary Palestinian man and woman wonder how Fatah could be entrusted to organize national elections, with Hamas as the main rival, when it couldn't honestly conduct limited internal elections.