Dec 16 (Reuters) - Below are some key facts about Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who called on Saturday for fresh elections.

* Better known by his nickname Abu Mazen, Abbas, 71, is a veteran of the Palestinian struggle for statehood. He long served as deputy to Yasser Arafat in the Palestine Liberation Organisation and took it over after Arafat's death in November 2004.

* Abbas co-authored interim peace accords with Israel in 1993 in which Palestinians obtained a measure of self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

* He was elected president of the Palestinian Authority in January 2005 in a landslide victory.

* However, his Fatah movement was defeated by Hamas, the Islamic militant group, in a surprise general election upset in January 2006. The period since then has been marked by a bitter struggle between Abbas and Hamas.

* Abbas was born in the town of Safed in what is now the Galilee region of northern Israel. His family was among hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled or were driven out of homes in the war of Israel's creation in 1948.

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