Palestinians set to go to the polls 

Palestinian police men guard as workers unload ballot boxes for the Palestinian Legislative Election. Picture / Reuters

GAZA CITY - More than one million residents of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem are expected to vote today in elections that will see Hamas end the dominant Fatah's virtual monopoly of control over the Palestinian parliament.

Divisions in the mainstream Fatah, which have helped reduce its lead over Hamas in recent weeks, cost the life of an activist in the West Bank city of Nablus yesterday when he was shot by a rival group while putting up an election poster.

More than 50,000 Palestinian Authority security forces will be deployed throughout the occupied territories in the hope they can prevent further violence.

Fatah and Hamas have urged supporters to leave their weapons at home.

Ehud Olmert, the acting Prime Minister, said he hoped Palestinians would not "choose again the extremists who have led them from tragedy to tragedy and to sorrowful lives."

In his first big speech in the post, he made clear Israel needed to withdraw from large parts of the West Bank, but warned that the Palestinians would have to "dismantle the terrorist groups" if this was to be by the "preferred option" of a negotiated agreement.

While two new polls show Fatah's lead increasing after steady erosion, it was too early to rule out the possibility that it could be slender enough to force Fatah to seek a coalition with Hamas.

The most respected Palestinian polling organisation, run by Dr Khalil Shikaki, shows Fatah, which supports a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel, enjoying a five per cent lead over Hamas, which is formally committed to the eventual elimination of Israel.

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