Foreign interference in the Palestinian elections

Several foreign players are seeking to influence the outcome of the Palestinian elections.

As Palestinians begin the countdown to their general legislative and presidential elections in May and July of this year, there seems to be growing interest among foreign actors in shaping their outcome. This has started to worry the Palestinian leadership. On February 16, Major General Jibril Rajoub, secretary-general of the Central Committee of Fatah, said on Palestinian TV that some Arab countries have been trying hard to interfere in the Palestinian elections and the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation talks. Three days later, Bassam al-Salhi, secretary-general of the Palestinian People’s Party and member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, noted in an interview for the website Arabi21 that: “Many countries will pump huge sums of money because they want to have influence in the Legislative Council. We are facing interference from many countries, Arab and foreign.”