Palestinian Central Election Commission unable to respond to Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi’s formal complaint of last-minute illegal changes in Palestinian presidential election regulations. On January 15 2005, forty-six Palestinian Election Commission staff members resigned in protest of pressures placed on the Commission to abruptly change voting procedures during the January 9th 2005 presidential poll. Such pressures were allegedly exerted upon the Commission by Mahmoud Abbas’s campaign and intelligence officials, forcing the Commission to change the regulations under duress. These changes led to a decrease in the percentage of votes for Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi and an increase for Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazin). Read more about Election Irregularities: CEC unable to respond to Barghouthi campaign formal complaint 

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, Palestinian presidential candidate, held a press conference at 7:30 pm on the evening of January 9, 2005, the day of the Palestinian presidential elections. At around 5:00 pm, Dr. Barghouthi and his campaigners found out via the media and word of mouth that the election rules and procedures had been changed. Neither he nor his campaign were officially informed. The changes were: 1. The voting process was prolonged for two additional hours. 2. The rules and procedures were changed such that people who were not registered in the elections registry were suddenly allowed to vote, which opened up the possibility of double or multiple voting. Read more about Election Irregularities: Mustafa Barghouthi campaign alleges "serious" election violations