Palestinian Authority Ramallah, West Bank, Dec 2, SPA -- Palestinian election officialsannounced Thursday that 10 candidates had qualified to runin Jan. 9 elections to replace Yasser Arafat as head ofPalestinian Authority. The qualified candidates included Mahmoud Abbas, theinterim Palestinian leader who is considered thefront-runner, jailed uprising leader Marwan Barghouti anddemocracy advocate Mustafa Barghouti. Rami Hamdallah, chairman of the Palestinian electioncommittee, announced the list of candidates. He said theofficial campaign will start 14 days before the electionand will end 24 hours before the vote. Also Thursday, Abbas visited his campaign headquarters inGaza and promised to follow in Arafat's footsteps toachieve an independent state. "Our people should participate and share in all theinstitutions and decisions regarding the future," he said."We must have a strong capable authority to providesecurity and stability to our people and to bring ourpeople out." Hamdallah said 71 percent of qualified Palestinians, or1.3 million people, have registered to vote. Palestinianswill have their hands stamped after they vote to ensurethere is no double voting, he said.--SPA1440 Local Time 1140 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/221440