A senior Palestinian official said on Saturday that the current Palestinian cabinet must present its resignation right after results of Sunday's presidential election are announced.

Abdel Kareem Abu Sallah, chief of the legal committee of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), told reporters that as soon as a new chairman of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is elected, "legally speaking, the cabinet should immediately resign."

He said after the cabinet resigns, the newly-elected chairman should authorize a Palestinian official to become the prime minister and ask him to form a new cabinet within three weeks
according to the basic law.

The current PNA cabinet is headed by Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei.

The presidential election will be held on Sunday to choose a successor to late leader Yasser Arafat. Mahmoud Abbas, chief of the Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee, is the front-runner in the run-up to the election.