Bethlehem, West Bank - The Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas completed candidate registration Friday in advance of a crucial election for its two highest decision-making bodies.

The election for the 21-member Central Committee and the 120- member Revolutionary Council had originally been scheduled for Thursday, but the party convention - the first in 20 years - was extended as more than 2,000 delegates argued heatedly over a plethora of complex and sensitive issues.

Voting was now expected to start no earlier than after Friday's afternoon session, with no morning session taking place as delegates attended Friday prayers, many of them at the al-Aqsa mosque in nearby Jerusalem.

At least 85 candidates nominated themselves for a seat in the 21- member Central Committee, and at least 427 for the Revolutionary Council.

They are competing for 18 of the Central Committee's 21 seats and for 70 of the Revolutionary Council's 120 seats. The bodies will then appoint their own choices to their remaining respective three and 50 seats.

The Central Committee is Fatah's top body, while the Revolutionary Council performs a legislative function.

High-profile candidates for the Central Committee include, besides Abbas, former Palestinian premier Ahmed Qureia and former West Bank Preventive Security Commander Jibril Rajoub, now the head of the Palestinian football association. They represent the movement's so- called "old guard.

Fatah's "young guard" candidates include people like former Gaza security strong man Mohammed Dahlan - loathed by some for alleged corruption. Many of the old guard hold him responsible for the 2007 Gaza take-over by the radical Islamist Hamas movement.

Another "young guard" candidate is the charismatic Marwan Barghouti, jailed in Israel for his role in the second Palestinian uprising, and Hussam Khader, from the northern West Bank city of Nablus, who also served several jail sentences in Israel for his activism in Fatah's armed wing, the al-Aqsa Brigades.

Delegates discussing the issue of negotiations with Israel meanwhile late Thursday drafted a resolution that set 14 preconditions for resuming the peace talks, including a total settlement freeze and the release of all Palestinian militants and radicals from Israeli prisons.

Another panel discussing the death of late Palestinian leader and Fatah founder Yasser Arafat, also phrased a resolution that blamed Israel for his "assassination" in November 2004. That resolution sparked outrage in Israel. (dpa)