RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - PLO leader Mahmud Abbas was placed in pole position to succeed Yasser Arafat as Palestinian Authority president after being chosen as the dominant Fatah faction's candidate in upcoming elections.
Members of Fatah's central committee voted unanimously for Abbas to contest the January 9 polls which will be only the second time that the Palestinian people have had the opportunity to elect their leader.
The decision effectively scuppers suggestions that the jailed West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghuti, whom polls show is the most popular politician, runs for the post from within the walls of his Israeli prison cell.
"The Fatah central committee has chosen Abu Mazen (Abbas) as its candidate for the presidential elections on January 9," one official, who is a member of the faction's decision-making body, told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The decision taken at a meeting in the West Bank town of Ramallah was unanimous, the official added.
The acting head of the Palestinian Authority, Rawhi Fattuh, had earlier confirmed that elections would take place on January 9, at the end of a 60-day mourning period for Arafat who died on Thursday.
Abbas, who is a former prime minister, was appointed head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation last week in the aftermath of Arafat's death in a Paris hospital.
The 69-year-old lacks broad popular support but his election would be warmly welcomed in both Israel and the United States.
While Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and US President George W. Bush boycotted Arafat, both men played host to Abbas during negotiations last year.
The bilateral peace process has made next to no progress since Abbas quit as prime minister in September 2003 after a bruising battle with Arafat for greater control of the sprawling Palestinian security apparatus.
Although its popularity has been dented in recent years amid widespread disillusionment at the corruption and incompetence within government, Fatah remains comfortably the largest of the Palestinian factions.
Barghuti's wife had said on Saturday that her husband, who is serving five life sentences for murder, was "the strongest candidate" but would make no decision on whether to run until Fatah had made its choice.
One of Barghuti's closest allies, deputy prisoner affairs minister Ziad Abu Ein, had earlier warned the Fatah establishment not to try to block the people's choice.
"We will not accept that the central committee just decides who will be the candidates," he told AFP. "We control the Palestinian street."
Israeli ministers had earlier made clear that they would not countenance Barghuti's release if he were to run in the election.
"He is an assassin who will spend at least 100 years behind bars," said minister without portfolio Tzahi Hanegbi.
The Palestinians are officially at the start of a 40-day period of mourning and candidates will not be able to put their names forward for another six days, acting Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Fattuh told journalists.
"Candidates are invited to submit their candidacy from November 20, for a period of 12 days," said Fattuh.
"The election campaign will begin on December 27 and continue until January 8, the last day before the elections."
Abbas's candidancy rules out the possibility that prime minister Ahmed Qorei would try his luck at the top job.
However there was some consolation for Qorei on Sunday when he was appointed Arafat's successor as head of the Palestinian national security council.
Israel is likely to come under strong international pressure to allow the Palestinian residents of annexed east Jerusalem to take part in the presidential elections.
According to a report in the Haaretz daily, Washington is insisting that Arab residents of east Jerusalem be allowed to vote for a Palestinian president and thus enhance his legitimacy.
East Jerusalem residents were allowed to take part in the only other elections when Arafat was chosen as the first head of the PA in 1996.
However, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who is to meet US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Washington on Monday, said he opposed such a move this time because the final status of the disputed holy city had yet to be negotiated.
11/14/2004 - 15:33 GMT - AFP