RAMALLAH, West Bank, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- An opinion poll indicated Monday Palestinian Liberation Organization Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is the leading candidate for Palestinian president.
The poll conducted by the Gaza-based Statistics Department at the General Authority of the Palestinian Information Center showed 40.5 percent of those queried supported Abbas compared to 20.3 percent who backed Mustafa Barghouti, the secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative.
The random sample comprised 2,710 people, including 1,020 from Gaza Strip and 1,699 from the West Bank. No margin of error was provided.
Earlier Monday, Barghouti announced he will seek the Palestinian presidency.
Voting is scheduled for Jan. 9 to select a successor to Yasser Arafat, who died in a Paris hospital earlier this month.
Barghouti called on the Palestinians to offer support for his election program based on "commitment to national principles and ending the Israeli occupation."
The Palestinian National Initiative is a movement that came as a response to popular demands from men and women calling for increased participation by Palestinian citizens in the process of nation building and for the opportunity to participate in the just struggle for the realization of an independent, viable, democratic and prosperous state which guarantees security, justice, equality before the law, and a dignified existence for its citizens.
