10 vying to lead the Palestinian Authority

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- A former communist who runs a respected Palestinian human rights organization, a professor with ties to Islamic groups, and a lawmaker known for exposing government corruption are among the 10 candidates vying to lead the Palestinian Authority, in what analysts here say will be the first truly competitive presidential election in the Arab world.

The Palestinian central elections commission announced the candidates -- all men -- at a news conference held exactly three weeks after the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who led his people for 36 years while leaving little room for political contest or democratic procedure.

The election, scheduled for Jan. 9, has enlivened the political debate in the press and on the Palestinian street, but it has also threatened to split Fatah, the largest party in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and prompted Islamic groups to call for a boycott.

''This is truly dramatic," said Hillel Frisch, a political scientist at Israel's BESA Center for Strategic Studies near Tel Aviv, who has monitored Palestinian society for 25 years.

''It could be one of the most striking democratic events that has ever taken place since Arab states have assumed independence, or it could produce perennial chaos among Palestinians," he said in an interview.

At stake is not only the future of 3.5 million Palestinians and their prospects for reviving a wilted peace process with Israel, but a successful election could also boost President Bush's stated goal of promoting democracy throughout the Middle East.

Though yesterday's news conference marked the first time some of the contenders were exposed to the media, most of the attention was still trained on Marwan Barghouthi, the jailed uprising leader who stunned people with his decision late Wednesday to run against fellow Fatah member Mahmoud Abbas.

Barghouthi, 45, is serving five life terms for engineering attacks on Israelis. Israel has ruled out freeing him, even if he wins. The 69-year-old Abbas, who is also known as Abu Mazen, was Arafat's deputy for decades and is the faction's designated candidate.

Barghouthi's political allies said yesterday the jailed leader was running because he was concerned Abbas, if he won, would try to get Palestinian militant groups to halt attacks on Israel. They also said Barghouthi wanted younger PLO leaders to take over.

''Marwan decided to run when he heard about Abu Mazen's intention to stop the intifadah," Saad Nimr, who runs a campaign in the West Bank to free Barghouthi, told reporters in Ramallah.

He quoted Barghouthi as telling his wife from prison Wednesday: ''I can't sit here and watch the leadership stop the Palestinian resistance without getting anything in return."

Barghouthi's wife, Fadwa, confirmed the conservation and dismissed rumors her husband would pull out of the contest before Jan. 9.

''He will stay in the race to the last minute and he will respect the results, as long as they are fair and clean," she said in a phone interview.

Barghouthi directed the Palestinian uprising for two years before his arrest in 2002. Abbas, by contrast, has criticized the suicide bombings and other attacks on Israel, maintaining they harm Palestinians politically and reduce the chances for making peace with the Jewish state.

Though his role in the intifada and his subsequent imprisonment made Barghouthi one of the most popular political figures among Palestinians, Fatah members across the West Bank and Gaza criticized him yesterday for going against his party.

''It's irresponsible and it's a betrayal," said Zuhair Manasra, a member of Fatah's Revolutionary Council, one of the faction's highest decision-making bodies. He said Barghouthi had effectively removed himself from Fatah by deciding to run.

More surprising was the fact that members of the Fatah-aligned Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades also condemned Barghouthi. The group, formed at the start of the uprising, is composed largely of militants thought to be loyal to Barghouthi.

Khaled al-Shawish, who cofounded Al Aqsa, said he met daily with Barghouthi until he was jailed by Israel.

''I trust him and love him, but we must not allow emotions to stand in the way of our judgment," Shawish said in an interview in Ramallah.

Once Fatah ''decided on Abu Mazen as its candidate, Marwan should have respected the decision," he said.

In Jenin, north of Ramallah, Al Aqsa leader Zakaria Zubeidi voiced similar views.

''The impression I have is that Marwan is not aware of what is happening on the outside. And in doing this [deciding to run] he is losing part of his history of struggle and his popularity," Zubeidi said.

Analysts say they believe Abbas and Barghouthi will be the main contenders in the presidential race. But at least three other candidates are expected to draw a significant number of votes.

They include Abdel Sattar Qassem, a Nablus-based academic who gained some prominence in recent years through his scathing critiques of Arafat and the late Palestinian leader's tendency to hoard power.

Qassem is running as an independent candidate with no party affiliation but has strong ties to Hamas and other Islamic groups. How well he places depends on whether Hamas, which has said it will boycott the election, reverses its decision, analysts said.

Hasan Khreisheh, who serves as speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, believes voters are ready to back a candidate who will fight government corruption, which was widely viewed as rampant under Arafat.

Khreisheh led an investigation earlier this year against officials and companies that bought cement from Egypt at cut rates and sold it to Israel for construction of its West Bank barrier -- a project Palestinians sharply oppose.

''I feel I'm capable of eradicating corruption and corrupt people from this area," Khreisheh told reporters on the sidelines of the news conference held by the elections commission. He said he had faced death threats while exposing the cement scandal.

Mustafa Barghouthi, another independent candidate, broke away from the Palestinian communist party years ago and now leads a human rights group and a medical relief organization. He is campaigning on a promise to run the Palestinian Authority with a collective leadership to include the nationalist Fatah as well as the radical Islamic factions.

Palestinians held a presidential election in 1996, but Arafat was opposed by just one candidate, a relatively unknown 72-year-old women's rights activist. Arafat garnered 88 percent of the votes.

Rami Hamdullah, secretary general of the central elections committee, said at the news conference yesterday that nearly 80 percent of eligible voters had been registered. He said it still was not clear if Israel would allow Palestinians from East Jerusalem, which the Jewish state considers part of its capital, to participate as promised.

Hamdullah said the contender with the most votes would be declared president without a runoff. But analysts said this system would allow a candidate to become president with much less than 50 percent of the votes, leaving him with a limited mandate.

''There are all kinds of pitfalls," said Frisch, the political scientist. But he said Palestinians were showing the way for other Arabs even before they had a state of their own.

Globe correspondent Sa'id Ghazali contributed to this report.