JERUSALEM (AFP) - The Palestinian election to select a successor to Yasser Arafat is taking a step forward with the registration of candidates for a vote that analysts say is technically viable but overshadowed by Israel.
"Eight weeks are enough. The most difficult thing is the electoral list. Fortunately, we began two months ago for the spring (legislative) election and we've practically finished," said Ihab al-Bakri from the electoral commission.
As of mid-October, 67 percent of the Palestinian electorate -- around one million people -- were registered to vote.
Then Arafat, the only leader Palestinians have ever known, died in a French military hospital on November 11.
Under the terms of the basic law, parliamentary speaker Rawhi Fattuh swiftly replaced him as Palestinian Authority president for 60 days until a general election could be held on January 9.
Fattuh immediately pledged that elections would be held within the two-month timeframe, and the bureaucracy of the 15,000-strong Palestinian electoral commission swung into action.
Contenders have 12 days, beginning Saturday, in which they are invited to submit their candidacy: the only requirements are that they be aged 35 or over, themselves registered to vote and able to cough up 3,000 dollars (2,300 euros).
Independent candidates have the additional hurdle of having to collect at least 5,000 signatures.
"Once these conditions are met, the candidate is accepted automatically," said commission spokesman Bakri.
Meaning that the jailed West Bank leader of Fatah, Marwan Barghuti, currently serving five life sentences in Israel for murder, could also stand, although his lawyers would have to lodge his candidacy.
A poll conducted last month suggested that the charismatic 45-year-old was the second most popular choice for PA president behind Arafat.
Registration will close on December 1 and the list of candidates will be made public on December 15. Campaigning will last from December 27 to 7:00 am on January 8, Bakri said.
But officials say that obstacles to a fair vote are far from technical.
Insisting that "there is the political will on the Palestinian side," MP Hanan Ashrawi joined other observers in urging Israel to do its best to smooth the way over the coming weeks.
"We want Israel to give us a bit of space to breathe and to end, before the vote, escalating violence, assassinations and (building the) wall, because it is impossible to hold an election in these circumstances," she said.
Similarly, Mahdi Abdel Hadi, director of the Palestinian Academic Society for Study of International Affairs, said Israel should allow Palestinians living in annexed east Jerusalem to participate in the ballot.
"Nearly 250,000 Palestinians live in east Jerusalem and it is legitimate and imperative that they participate," he said.
In 1996, they were allowed to take part in the election by casting postal ballots. Palestinian towns in the West Bank are currently under the security control of the Israeli army.
But last Monday, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom denied that elections had been held in east Jerusalem in 1996, adding that he "believes there should be the same situation" on January 9.
Western officials have called on the Jewish state to facilitate a Palestinian election in order to ease a rapid return to the negotiating table opposite the winners of the ballot.
"International observers are needed to hold free, fair and transparent elections. Israel cannot be allowed to be a negative factor," said Abdel Hadi.
Pending the emergence of a meaty political rival, Mahmud Abbas who has already stepped into Arafat's shoes as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation looks in pole position to win.
He is expected to be named formally as the candidate for the mainstream Fatah party.
So far, only three wildcard contenders have officially jumped into the race: former Hamas supremo Sheikh Talal Sidr who quit to become a junior minister; lawyer Ghassan Barham; and political science lecturer Abdel Sattar Qassem.
11/20/2004 - 07:09 GMT - AFP