According to the latest poll in the Palestinian territories, Fatah candidate Mahmoud Abbas has the support of roughly 65 percent of the Palestinian electorate and should become the next President of the Palestinian authority when elections are held on January 9th.

Interestingly enough, the poll showed that Palestinians were evenly divided on the important question of continuing the intifadah against Israel. 49 percent wanted to continue the violence against Israelis while 49 percent agreed with Abbas's stance that the violence has hurt Palestinian aspirations for a state and should end immediately.

Abbas's lead was substantial. The next most popular candidate according to the poll was Mustafa al-Barghouti who had just 22 percent support. The other five candidates totaled just five percent in the sample of 1,319 Palestinians questioned in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The leaders of the terrorist group Hamas has reiterated their stance to boycott the elections and asked that their supporters do the same. It is not clear what, if any effect this will have on the outcome of the election.