RAMALLAH, West Bank — After casting his ballot in Fatah’s recent elections, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Dec. 3 it had been a peak democratic experience. “This is a democratic festival by all accounts, the world could see that these meetings were correct and transparent and democratic.”

There was no hint of irony in Abbas’ words. However, Amira Hass, an Israeli journalist who has lived in Ramallah for over a decade, quoted a non-Fatah PLO activist as saying, “Abbas’ nondemocratic methods give his principled position as a statesman a bad name.”

Jehad Harb, a Ramallah-based researcher in governance and policy issues, told Al-Monitor that Abbas’ goals had been to exclude dismissed Fatah Central Committee member Mohammed Dahlan and his group, ensure a post-Abbas succession with the retention of Abbas’ political platform and comply with Fatah’s internal regulations that require convening a Fatah general congress at least twice a decade.

Recent polling, conducted in the week after the Fatah congress, by Khalil Shikaki’s Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, indicates that the re-elected Fatah leadership now “faces a tough challenge winning the trust and confidence of the public.”