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How did Yasser Arafat become the first president of the Palestinian Authority?

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Oslo Accords: Declaration of Principles on Palestinian Self-Rule — Palestinian Authority U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton (center) looking on as Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (left) shakes hands with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat after the signing of the Declaration of Principles on Palestinian Self-Rule, September 1993.

Yasser Arafat became the first president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) following democratic elections held on January 20, 1996.12

The path to this presidency was established through the Oslo Accords, a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) that created the PA to govern Palestinian autonomous regions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from various cities, an agreement signed in September 1995 provided for the expansion of self-rule and the election of a chairman and a legislative council.312

In the 1996 elections, in which approximately three-fourths of eligible Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza participated, Arafat secured nearly 90 percent of the vote. He assumed the presidency in February 1996 while continuing to serve as chairman of the PLO.2