Not even Palestinian spokesliar Nabil Shaath can deny that the Fatah (Arabic for “Conquest”) elections were … ahem … flawed.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party scrambled on Wednesday to salvage a primary election rocked by turmoil that has widened internal rifts ahead of a political battle with its Hamas rival.

A day after Abbas suspended voting in response to violence and fraud, Fatah’s Central Committee decided to name a 24-member review board, chaired by the president, to finalize a list of the party’s candidates for a parliamentary election on January 25.

“You cannot say that the elections were really democratic,” Central Committee member Nabil Shaath said about the ballot in the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip. “There was a lot of fraud and cheating.”

Oh, say it ain’t so, Nabil.