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VOTING IN Sunday's Palestinian election of a successor to Yasser Arafat was extended by two hours because some voters were being held up by Israeli army checkpoints,

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VOTING IN Sunday's Palestinian election of a successor to Yasser Arafat was extended by two hours because some voters were being held up by Israeli army checkpoints, election officials said.

Bahr al-Bakr of the Central Election Commission said polls in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem would be kept open until 9 pm. Mahmoud Abbas, a former Arafat deputy, was widely expected to win easily over six challengers.

"The closing of polling stations has been pushed back because of Israeli obstacles, especially military checkpoints in the West Bank not removed in violation of understandings we reached with the Israeli side," he told Reuters.

Israeli military sources said soldiers had taken steps to ease passage at checkpoints to the presidential polls but that the army never promised to dismantle all barricades.

"If there were any delays they were because of intelligence alerts. We told the Palestinians we reserved the right to act on alerts."