Yasser Arafat's local election gambit
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The Palestinian Authority sees the vote as a possible major boost to Arafat's legitimacy and answer to calls for reform.
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Palestinians cast their votes yesterday for local councils in 26 towns and villages of the West Bank, opening an election season that officials say will underline the Palestinian Authority&#39;s commitment to democracy.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Seven candidates running for Palestinian president, led by front-runner Mahmoud Abbas, kicked off a 15-day electoral campaign yesterday, with most seeking to capitalize in some fashion on the memory of Yasser Arafat.
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Palestinian officials pushed forward on Sunday with plans for life without Yasser Arafat, meeting to set a date for elections to replace their longtime leader after his death.
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Palestinians have voted in the first municipal elections in the West Bank in nearly three decades in a dress rehearsal for next month&#39;s presidential ballot to choose former president Yasser Arafat&#39;s successor.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank Palestinian officials are pushing ahead with plans for life without Yasser Arafat. The officials met today to set a date for elections to replace their longtime leader after his death last week.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank  - Palestinian officials on  Saturday began registering candidates for an election to  replace Yasser Arafat as officials warned the vote may be  delayed unless Israel halted military activities.
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In a pace-setting adventure next January that could herald a new beginning in the Middle East or spell disaster for all is the election of a Palestinian successor to the charismatic Yasser Arafat and a new Baghdad regime that could bring to an end the
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The parliament speaker would replace Yasser Arafat as Palestinian Authority president for 60 days, until elections. But he is unlikely to hold onto that position during a turbulent transition; timely elections also seem unlikely.
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Yasser Arafat&#39;s death opens a window of opportunity. The Palestinian leader who loomed so large for so many years - and who had recently been rejected as a partner by Israel
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Nearly two million Palestinians are  to elect a successor to Yasser Arafat, amid concern at Israeli travel curbs.
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DAHARIYA, West Bank -- Thousands of Palestinians voted yesterday in the first municipal elections in the West Bank in 28 years, with the Islamic group Hamas vying for political power for the first time against Fatah, the main faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
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Abdel Sattar Qassem, a Nablus academic and political outsider, on Wednesday announced his decision to run in the upcoming election for the chairmanship of the Palestinian Authority.
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' decision to call early presidential and parliament elections is fraught with legal and political difficulties. Independent experts have said he is on shaky legal ground, and the ruling Hamas Party says it will challenge him every step of the way.
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Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Saturday he will set a date for general elections immediately after a round of municipal elections in Palestinian areas in December.
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The death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat early Thursday morning reignited the debate over the future of Israel and the Palestinians worldwide, but even locally residents admitted an answer remains elusive.
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BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip  - Palestinians voted on  Thursday in the first municipal elections in the Gaza Strip in  decades, a test of strength between new President Mahmoud Abbas  and the militant Hamas group.