Ramallah, (West Bank): Campaigning began on Tuesday for the second Palestinian Parliamentary election with factions staging launch rallies despite major question marks over whether the vote will take place.
The Fatah movement, which has governed the Palestinian Authority over the past decade, was trying to put behind its internal divisions at the launch of their campaign by the tomb of the late patriarch Yasser Arafat in Ramallah.
While Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas is on a tour of the Gulf states, Deputy Prime Minister and Fatah campaign manager Nabil Shaath was expected to address supporters and many of the party's candidates running for office on January 25.
While Fatah was kicking off its campaign in the West Bank, its chief rivals from Hamas were staging their own launch in their Gaza Strip stronghold.
Ismail Haniya, who tops the Islamists' list of candidates, was expected to address supporters outside the home of the movement's late founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin who was assassinated in an Israeli air strike nearly two years ago.
Hamas, buoyed by its strong showing in recent municipal elections, is fielding Parliamentary candidates for the first time after boycotting the only previous elections a decade ago.
Supporters of the rival factions were busy festooning the streets of Gaza and the West Bank with posters and flags, while newspapers were dominated with adverts placed by the parties.
Hamas is expected to campaign heavily on an anti-graft ticket, taking advantage of the widespread disillusionment among voters over the corruption and incompetence of the current Palestinian Authority.
Abbas's failure to assert control has been starkly illustrated in recent months in Gaza where gunmen now operate above the law and kidnappings are increasingly common.
Dozens of European Union monitors have arrived in the major towns to oversee the vote but say they will be making hourly assessments over the security situation.
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