Palestinians on Wednesday vote in their first parliamentary election in a decade with pollsters predicting the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) could be brought into the government for the first time.

Pollsters said the race was too close to call for both Hamas and the ruling Fatah Party of President Mahmoud Abbas. Opinion polls show that Hamas, running for parliament for the first time, lags behind the Fatah with just one percentage point.

Some 1.4 million people are eligible to vote for the 132-member Palestinian Legislative Council, and pollsters predicted a turnout of at least 75 percent.

Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri said he expected that his group would win half of the seats.

Hamas leaders have talked by phone for the recent days with Abbas about possible cooperation in the future government. "Hamas will not be in the government by itself," said al-Masri.

In recent days, Hamas signaled some flexibility on relationship with Israel, with which it had long ruled out negotiations. A senior Hamas official said earlier this week that talks with Israel were "not taboo."

Fatah leaders were optimistic that they would get over half of the votes but prefer governing with parties smaller than Hamas if forced to form a coalition. They maintain that Hamas would be the last choice for a coalition.

Abbas hoped that Hamas, if elected into parliament, could be ready to disarm under the "roadmap" plan.

The United States has reiterated it viewed Hamas as a "terrorist organization" and would have "practical problems" dealing with Hamas.

Israeli officials have cautioned that a victory for Hamas, whose charter pursues the destruction of the Jewish state, could terminate the Middle East peace process.

Israel's acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he hoped the Palestinian poll would create a government that is ready to follow the "road map."

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) rejected on Tuesday any "external intervention" in forming the future PNA cabinet following the elections.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told the Voice of Palestine radio that such intervention in the Palestinian democratic life is totally rejected, adding that the PNA will not allow any external sides to interfere.

Security has been tightened before the Wednesday elections. On Tuesday,the Palestinian Interior Ministry announced a state of emergency in a bid to ensure a secure and smooth legislative election.

Tawfik Abu Khousa, spokesman of the interior ministry, said in a press statement that as of Tuesday, 13,000 Palestinian security officers and policemen will be deployed inside and around voting stations to protect the polls, which will be held in the West Bank,the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

The state of emergency will last till results of the elections are announced, he said, adding that "instructions have been made to security members to provide security to all voting stations."

Security forces will prevent any attempts to obstruct the election and bar armed men from entering the voting stations regardless of their positions, Abu Khousa added.

Major groups, including the ruling Fatah movement and Hamas, pledged to maintain calm on the election day in a joint statement released on Tuesday.

A spokesman of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Fatah, said that militants would wear civilian clothes and bear noarms near and inside the polling stations on Wednesday.

A joint statement by Fatah, Hamas, the Popular front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Palestinian National Resistance Brigades and the Popular Resistance Committees said that the groups opposed any attempts or any faction to disrupt the voting.

The statement also said that the groups supported the PNA's decision to only authorize security forces to protect the ballot.

Despite chaos in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in recent months,violence related to the upcoming elections has been relatively limited.

On Tuesday, a member of the Fatah movement was killed by unidentified gunmen in the West Bank city of Nablus.

Police said that Yousef Joma Hasouna, 35, was shot in the head in heated argument which erupted as the gunmen tried to prevent him from hanging a poster of a Fatah candidate for Wednesday's elections on a wall in Rafedya, Nablus.