Poll: Palestinian elections very popular

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- An estimated 75 percent of Palestinians support a new round of elections if regional reconciliation efforts fail, poll results in the West Bank and Gaza show.

The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research said Friday a recent public opinion poll of 1,270 adults found that an estimated 75 percent of Palestinians asked supported early 2009 elections if Hamas and Fatah officials are unable to reconcile their differences.

The electoral proposal comes from Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The poll respondents supported his proposal if the elections are allowed to take place in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the center said.

The poll, conducted Dec. 3-5 in the two troubled regions, also found two-thirds of all respondents feel the presidential term of Abbas expires in January. Hamas officials have maintained that term limit, while Abbas and Fatah leaders say the president's term officially ends in January 2010.

The center said 48 percent of those surveyed in the poll, which has a margin of error of 3 percent, said they would vote for Abbas in a presidential election. Top Fatah presidential candidate, Ismail Haniyeh, earned 38 percent of respondents' support.