How the Vote Works

Palestinians Will Go to the Polls Jan. 9 to Choose Arafat's Successor

Interim Palestinian leader and presidential front-runner Mahmoud Abbas, center, greets supporters Thursday in the West Bank. (Alexander Zemlianichenko - AP)

Campaign and Election Procedures

Elections for president of the Palestinian National Authority will be held Sunday, Jan. 9, in the Gaza and West Bank territories as well as in Jerusalem. Candidates must stop campaigning 24 hours before the polls open and officially started their campaigns 14 days before the vote. The winner of Sunday's election will replace the late president, Yasser Arafat, who died on Nov. 11, 2004.

The territories will be divided into sixteen constituencies, each of which will be allocated seats in the council proportional to the district's population. In Jerusalem, which is under Israeli control, there will be 11 polling stations for Palestinians who live in the city.

On election day, polls will open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.

Counting will begin at the voting locations once the polls close. After each district tabulates and checks results, they will submit the results to the National Election Office for final tabulation of the general election results.

Candidates and Eligibility

To be eligible to run for president, a person must be a Palestinian citizen, at least 35 years old, and registered to vote. Any registered party can nominate a candidate. Independent candidates can run if they submit a petition with 5,000 signatures of registered voters.

There are seven candidates for president of the Palestinian National Authority:

• Mustafa Barghouti, Independent Candidate
• Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), Fatah -- Palestinian Liberation Movement
• Bassam As Salhi, Peoples Party of Palestine
• Tayseer Khaled, Democratic Front for Liberation of Palestine
• Abd Al Karim Shbair, Independent Candidate
• Abd Al Halim al Ashqar, Independent Candidate
• Al Sayyed Barakeh, Independent Candidate

Voter Registration and Eligibility

Any Palestinian citizen over the age of 18 who has not been convicted and sentenced for a common crime, or ruled incapable by judicial ruling, can register to vote. A Palestinian is anyone born in Palestine, as defined by the British Mandate, or born in Gaza or the West Bank, including Jerusalem. If a person has a direct ancestor that meets these requirements or is married to a Palestinian, he or she may also vote. If someone holds Israeli citizenship, they are forbidden from participating in the election.

A person may only register to vote in the district in which he or she lives. Voters may register on election day with valid Palestinian identification. Proxy registration is not allowed except for Palestinian detainees being held by Israeli authorities. Detainees can be registered by family members or by their attorneys.

Administration and Election Law

The Palestinian elections will be administered by the Central Elections Commission (CEC) in accordance with Elections Law #13 of 1995. The CEC is headquartered in Ramallah with a regional office in Gaza. It will oversee registration, candidate certification, preparation of official voter lists and election-day polling and tabulation. The CEC will also certify election observers.

Each voter's name and identification card will be checked against the voter list and their hands will be stamped at the polling station. Using paper ballots, voters will mark an "X" in the box next to the name of the candidate they prefer. Candidates and parties will be permitted to have a limited number of certified observers monitoring the vote.