Survey: Abu Mazen has support of 24 percent of Palestinians

Some 24.2 percent of the Palestinian public would support Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) in elections for head of the Palestinian Authority, provided that incarcerated Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti is not running, a survey has found.

The survey, conducted by A-Najah University, also revealed that 45.1 percent of the public interviewed believes that Abu Mazen is able to run the Palestine Liberation Organization now that Yasser Arafat is dead, while 41.6 percent believe he would not be successful.

During Arafat's lifetime, Abu Mazen never garnered support in excess of three percent in a Palestinian survey.

The left-wing potential candidate, Dr Mustafa al-Barghouti, would get 9.8 percent of the vote, according to the survey conducted on November 19 and 20, while four percent would support Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala).

There appears to be a large floating vote, with some 48 percent of the respondents saying they will decide only when they reach the polling booth.

When no candidate's name was mentioned, 34.3 percent said they would support Fatah, 11.5 percent expressed allegiance to Hamas, 12.9 percent favored an independent candidate, and 34.5 percent said they would decide on election day.

The survey encompassed 1,360 Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, aged 18 and above.