GAZA, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- A local institution unofficially announced that Fatah candidate Mahmoud Abbas won 66 percent of the votes in the presidential elections held Sunday.
By getting these results, Abbas, better known as Abu Mazen became the new Palestinian leader to succeed late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Khalil Shiqaqi, director of the Palestinian Institution for Polls, which followed up the elections Sunday said that Abbas won 66.7 percent of the votes, adding that the second independent candidate got 19.7 percent.
He said that this percentage is the closest percentage for the official results of the Palestinian presidential elections that were held Sunday and that will be officially declared Monday morning.
He also said that margin of error had reached to 3 percent, adding that his organization established 120 polls centers in more than 120 election stations.
Official sources estimated that the number of those who had the right to vote went to 1.7 million Palestinians, and more than 60 percent of that number had voted.
