RAMALLAH, September 1 - A
poll published Tuesday by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center found that, despite shifts in leadership after the resignation of Mahmoud Abbas from the helm of the Palestine Liberation Organization, there is no clear successor for the Palestinian president.
The poll found that presidential elections held without an Abbas candidacy put imprisoned Fateh leader Marwan Barghouti as the strongest contender with only 10.5% of the vote. Prime minister of the Hamas-controlled government in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh came a close second, with 9.8% of the vote. A surprising 5.1% supported deposed security chief Mohammed Dahlan and an additional 3.3% would elect head peace process negotiator Saeb Erekat.
The largest proportion, 33.6%, said that they did not yet know who they would vote for.
Other results found that more than one-quarter of respondents saw the performance of the Palestinian Authority as slipping, up from 15.8% in April. The poll comes just after a series of publicly outed improprieties by government officials.
The poll, which had a margin of error of +-3, was conducted on August 19-23, 2015.