November 19 - 20, 2004
The Background
The Palestinian people are bereaved of their President and despite this great matter, the Palestinian political institutions were able to make a quiet transition of powers by filling in the gap bequeathed by the lasting departure of the President. There was a smooth transition of responsibilities and powers which were in the hands of Arafat to other people; the transition was done according to the laws and regulations adopted by the PLO and the Palestinian Authority. As a result, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) was charged with the Chair of the PLO, Ahmed Qurai’ (Abu Ala’) was charged with the National Security Council, Farok Al Qaddumi chaired Fateh movement, and Rawhi Fattooh was temporarily charged with the presidency of the Palestinian Authority until Presidential elections are held within 60 days according to the Palestinian temporary constitution. Fattooh made this clear upon swearing in as a temporary president of the Palestinian Authority.
Upon the declaration of the intended elections, the Palestinian leadership intensified its meetings with the Palestinian political factions to discuss the subject of elections. Some political factions urged Palestinian people to call for general elections (legislative and local council elections) along with the presidential elections. Until the day of this poll, meetings between members of the PA and members of the leadership of the Palestinian organizations are still going on for the purpose of resolving the issues of the type of elections, who will participate and on what grounds.
The issue of the participation of East Jerusalem residents in the elections continues to be a matter of debate. While more than one Palestinian official declared that no elections can be conducted without the participation of the Jerusalem residents, the Israeli Government has not resolved the subject yet which has great political significance for both Palestinians and Israelis. On the other side of the Palestinian scene, the nature of the sickness that led to the death of the President continues to be unidentified; there are several estimates and interpretations of the cause of the president’s death. The Palestinian leadership avowed that it would continue its relentless efforts to unfold the reason of the president’s death and acquaint the Palestinian people and the world at large with the reality of the disease that put an end to the life of President Arafat.

* The Opinions represented in the results reflect those of the study; they do not represent by any means the opinion of An-Najah National University.
The Results
Following are the results of the special poll, which was conducted by the Center of Opinion Polls and Survey Studies at Najah National University during the period from November 19-20, 2004. An-Najah National University took full sponsorship of this Poll.
This special poll basically concentrates on the internal political consequences of the death of President Arafat especially as it relates to the elections and to the attitudes of the Palestinian public towards them.
The sample included 1360 persons whose age group is 18 years and above and who have the right to vote. The sample forms one per thousand from among the total number of Palestinian people of this age group. The enclosed questionnaire was distributed on 860 persons from the West Bank and 500 persons from the Gaza Strip. The sample was drawn randomly and the margin of error is about ±3%. Still 2.2% of the members of the sample refused to answer the questionnaire.

The Main Results

• 14.6% from among respondents support conducting presidential elections only, 59.3% support conducting presidential and legislative elections simultaneously, and 21.2% support conducting presidential elections and assigning a later date for legislative elections.
• 67.0% will participate in the elections if presidential elections only are conducted, and ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬20.3% will not participate.
• 30.5%