Jailed Fatah leader shakes up Palestinian election by running rival candidates against his own party

FILE PHOTO: Marwan Barghouti, a popular Palestinian leader, gestures as Israeli police bring him into the District Court for his judgment hearing in Tel Aviv May 20, 2004. REUTERS/Pool/David Silverman

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti threw the May 22 parliamentary elections into turmoil on Wednesday by announcing a rival slate of candidates to run against his own Fatah party.

Barghouti and Nasser Al-Qudwa - a nephew of the party's late founder and figurehead Yasser Arafat - laid down a direct challenge to Fatah leader President Mahmoud Abbas by registering their own list which they called "Freedom".