Yasser Arafat's image and spirit haunted the fight to succeed him this evening as seven candidates launched campaigns playing up their links with the late Palestinian president.
One even donned Arafat's trademark black and white Arab headdress and started his campaign at Arafat's graveside.
The official positions of the aspirants are similar: all pledge to work to end Israeli occupation and bring about Palestinian statehood, as well as fight corruption.
In his first campaign speech, frontrunner Mr Mahmoud Abbas vowed to keep to Arafat's stand that Palestinians must have a state on all of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war. He also said Israel must free all Palestinian prisoners.
But the US-favored Mr Abbas, who has urged an end to armed struggle, is expected to try to revive talks with the Jewish state amid new hopes for peace following Arafat's death.
"We have chosen the path of peace and negotiation," Mr Abbas said. "We will not turn from peace based on justice. Without justice there will be no peace and the Middle East will not rest."
Each of the seven candidates tried to court voters by identifying with the charismatic Arafat, who gave Palestinians the first foothold of a state, though he was sidelined by Israel and the US who called him an obstacle to peace.
Despite having been at odds with Arafat, who died in a Paris hospital on November 11th, Mr Abbas began his campaign with a newspaper advert showing the two men side by side.
Mr Abbas's nearest rival, Mr Mustafa Barghouthi, an advocate of non-violent struggle, went further, putting on the black-and-white keffiyeh that Arafat made into a symbol of the Palestinian struggle as he visited the grave in Ramallah.
Posters of the candidates beamed from street walls. Some were glued to an Israeli army checkpoint.