Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has announced who would replace him in an interim period when the post becomes vacant, effectively removing Hamas from any involvement in a future transition, AFP reports.

Abbas, 89, still rules despite his term as head of the Palestinian Authority ending in 2009, and has resisted pressure to appoint a successor or a vice president.

Under current Palestinian law, the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) takes over the Palestinian Authority in the event of a power vacuum.

But the PLC, where Hamas had a majority, no longer exists since Abbas officially dissolved it in 2018 after more than a decade of tensions between his secular party, Fatah, and Hamas, which ousted the Palestinian Authority from power in the Gaza Strip in 2007.

In a decree, Abbas said the Palestinian National Council chairman, Rawhi Fattuh, would be his temporary replacement should the position should become vacant.

The decree added that following the transition period, elections must be held within 90 days. This deadline can be extended in the event of a “force majeure”, it said.