This election will be an interesting one to watch. :
…
Jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti has submitted his candidacy for the Palestinian Authority chairmanship, his brother said
Wednesday.Barghouti, currently serving five life sentences in an Israeli jail, declared last week that he would step aside in favor of Mahmoud Abbas, the former Palestinian prime minister who is Fatah’s official candidate.
Meanwhile, the militant Islamic faction Hamas said Wednesday that it would will boycott the January 9 election for a successor to Yasser Arafat.
Palestinian democracy and human rights activist Mustafa Barghouti has joined the race to replace the late Yasser Arafat as Palestinian president.
Polls suggest that Mr Barghouti, 50, is in second place behind frontrunner Mahmoud Abbas, who represents the ruling Fatah party.
“I will demand total reform, fight any form of corruption, mismanagement, and consolidate the rule of law,” he said.
Elections for the Palestinian Authority presidency are due on 9 January, 2005.
Mr Abbas, widely known as Abu Mazen, received a boost in his campaign when the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades - the armed wing of Fatah - announced it would back his candidacy
Another member of the Barghouti clan, Fatah leader in the West Bank Marwan Barghouti announced on Friday he would not run in the presidential election and urged supporters to back Mr Abbas.
Marwan Barghouti in currently in an Israeli prison after been convicted of terrorism offences by Israel although he refused to recognise the court.
This is hillarious. Arafat had one election, then claimed that Isreal would not allow another one. Sure seems to be a lot easier than King Arafat would have had you believe. What do you know, Democracy breaks out in the Palestinian Authority less than a month after Arafat is gone.
CNN was reporting tonight that Marwan Barghouti (the one in Israeli jail) has changed his mind, and has now announced that he will run for President. Israel has said that Barghouti is a terrorist, and will remain in jail and is not a partner-in-peace yada yada yada.
So, anyway, seems like the original topic of this thread still stands (despite momentary confusion about a Barghouti brother). Lets see how Palestinian leadership gets out of a two-way race.