Moderate Abbas adopted as mainstream candidate to replace Arafat: minister

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Nov 22 (AFP) - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat`s moderate number two Mahmud Abbas was adopted by the mainstream Fatah movement Monday as its candidate to succeed him in January polls, social affairs minister Intissar al-Wazir said.
"The Fatah central commitee chose Abu Mazen (Abbas`s nom-de-guerre) as its candidate for the election for Palestinian Authority president," she told reporters in this central West Bank town.
The 13-member committee`s nomination is to be put to a meeting of Fatah`s 114-member Revolutionary Council on Thursday for final approval, she added.
Palestinian cabinet secretary Tayeb Abdulrahim told a news conference that the Fatah executive`s decision had been unanimous.
While Abbas enjoys US and Israeli support for his longstanding opposition to the militarization of the four-year-old Palestinian uprising, he lacks broad popular support and Fatah`s West Bank chief, Marwan Barghuti, who is currently serving five life sentences in Israel, had been touted as a possible alternative.

11/22/2004 20:23 GMT - AFP