Abbas set for poll victory
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PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas today appeared to be guaranteed victory in the Palestinian presidential election after the withdrawal of his chief rival, but an upsurge of violence underlined the scale of the challenge ahead.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank  - Moderate Palestinian leader  Mahmoud Abbas's chances of winning a presidential election to  replace Yasser Arafat appeared to be sealed after his main  rival Marwan Barghouthi pulled out of the race.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank  - Mahmoud Abbas won election  as Palestinian president with more than 60 percent of the vote,  officials said Monday, strengthening his hand to end years of  bloodshed and resume peace talks with Israel.
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BEIJING, Dec. 30 -- Interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has addressed an election rally of thousands in the West Bank town of Tulkarem, ahead of January 9th&#39;s presidential election.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank  - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas vowed on Monday to press on with early elections as a truce between his security forces and the Hamas government threatened to unravel in the Gaza Strip.
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Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Mahmoud Abbas says officials will take steps to end lawlessness and violence in the Palestinian territories ahead of scheduled January 9 elections for president.
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The main Palestinian faction, Fatah, is set to back Mahmoud Abbas in January's presidential poll.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank  - The victory of Mahmoud  Abbas in Palestinian elections raised hopes on Monday for  reviving talks with Israel after the relative moderate won a  landslide in the vote to succeed Yasser Arafat.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank  - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday he will order early parliamentary and presidential elections in response to what he called last month's "coup" by Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip.
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Interim Palestine Liberation Organization leader Mahmoud Abbas is the clear front-runner in upcoming presidential elections, according to a poll released Sunday.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank  - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas may call early elections on Saturday in a much anticipated speech after violence between his Fatah group and the ruling Hamas movement stirred fears of civil war.
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JERUSALEM -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is inclined to call early elections, including for his office, to end the political and economic crisis in the territories, Palestinian officials said yesterday.
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NABLUS, West Bank  - Just two days after branding  Israel the "Zionist enemy," Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas  pledged on Thursday to pursue peace talks following the Jan. 9  presidential election he is widely expected to win.
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JERUSALEM -- Mahmoud Abbas, the leading candidate for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority in next Sunday's elections, appears to be winning support of a key constituency: Palestinian militants and their supporters.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas decreed new election rules yesterday intended to make it more difficult for his faction's Hamas rivals to win the presidency or keep their majority in Parliament.
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NABLUS, West Bank -- The main Palestinian movement Fatah won a test of strength against Islamic militants in a key West Bank student election yesterday, boosting Mahmoud Abbas in his campaign to succeed Yasser Arafat as president.
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Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas,  frontrunner to succeed Yasser Arafat, said Wednesday that he  expected negotiations on Israel's plan to withdraw from the  Gaza Strip after Palestinian elections next month.