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| The historic Palestinian presidential
election kicked off throughout the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east
Jerusalem on Sunday morning to choose a successor to late leader Yasser
Arafat. (Photo: Xinhua) |
RAMALLAH/GAZA, Jan. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- The historic
Palestinian presidential election kicked off throughout the West Bank, the Gaza
Strip and east Jerusalem on Sunday morning to choose a successor to late leader
Yasser Arafat.
Eligible voters began to cast their
votes in the polling stations dotted in the territories at 7:00 a.m. (0500 GMT),
and the voting process will last for 12 hours.
Seven candidates are running for the chairmanship of
the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), including Mahmoud Abbas,chief of the
Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee.
According to recent polls, Abbas is the front-runner and
expected to get about half of the votes.
The voting time might be extended if there are no
enough people to turn out for the poll, said Palestinian officials.
In the central area of the Gaza Strip, mainly in the town
of Deir el Ballah, dozens of people arrived at several voting stations Sunday
morning.
A local resident told Xinhua that everything was
fine, the process went smoothly and there were no problems.
"I voted for Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), and I hope that he will
be the successor to our late President Yasser Arafat," another resident said on
condition of anonymity.
In Rafah, witnesses said the poll opened at 7:00 a.m.
(0500GMT), and hundreds of people were seen going to schools, where voting
stations are set up.
Official figures said 51,910 Palestinians, who are
over 18 years, are entitled to vote in the area, and they will head to 106
polling stations.
"We didn't expect to see this huge number of
Palestinians participating in the election. It is a democratic process, and
everything goes in calmness and there are no problems," said Yahyael Farra,
mayor of the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis.
It won't take a voter more than three minutes to check his
name and drop his vote into the ballot box.
Palestinian voters will cast their ballots in 16
election districts, 11 in the West Bank and east Jerusalem and five in the Gaza
Strip.
The number of voters mounted after the Palestinian
Central Elections Committee approved a law which allows those who are over 18
but didn't register for the election to vote.
The number of those who registered in the election had
reached 1,282,524, 863,000 in the West Bank and east Jerusalem and 419,000 in
the Gaza Strip.
There are 1,077 voting centers in the 16 election
districts,including 70 centers for those who didn't officially register for the
election.
Each voter has his thumbnail painted with a special
kind of ink that can be indelible within 24 hours. It is a means that the
Central Election Committee is using to avoid fraudulent practice.
Some 800 foreign election monitors from a number of countries
and non-governmental organizations, along with some 21,000 local observers, will
be at every election center to oversee the whole process.
The final results of the election will be announced
on Monday morning. The candidate who gains the highest number of votes will be
declared as the new president. Enditem | 
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