Successor of Arafat: Abbas wins Palestinian elections by Landslide
Pakistan Times Foreign Desk

RAMALLAH (West Bank): PLO Chairman Mahmud Abbas became the heir of the venerated leader Yasser Arafat by winning Palestinian Presidential election with a landslide victory, marking 46 percent lead over his nearest rival Mustafa Barghuti on Sunday.

Abbas won 66.3 percent of the votes cast while Barghuti, an independent candidate, registered 19.7 percent of the votes, said the study by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research released shortly after the official close of voting at 19:00 GMT.

Former prime minister Abbas, who was running for the dominant Fatah faction, had been widely expected to be elected as the successor to the late Yasser Arafat.

The Contestants

A total of seven candidates took part in the election although none of the others registered more than four percent of the vote, the exit poll said.

Tayssir Khaled, standing for the leftist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, registered 3.8 percent, while former communist People's Party candidate Bassam Salhi had 2.7 percent. The independents Abdelhalim Al-Ashqar, Sayyed Barakah and Abdelkarim Shubeir won 2.4, 1.1 and 0.7 percent respectively.

A formal announcement of the result was not expected to be made until today, Monday.

Voting had been extended by two hours amid claims by election organisers that Israeli restrictions in the occupied territories had hampered access to polling booths.

Israel Reax

Meanwhile, Israel officials said late Sunday they hoped the election of Mahmud Abbas, whom exit polls suggested overwhelmingly won the Palestinian presidential election to succeed Yasser Arafat, would usher in a new era of peace.

An exit poll released shortly after the official close of voting at 1900 GMT, said Abbas had secured a landslide victory, garnering 66.3 percent of the votes while the closest contender, independent candidate Mustafa Barghuti registered only 19.7 percent.

"We hope that by electing Abu Mazen (Abbas), the Palestinians have ushered in a new era of peace and are taking the path of compromise and dialogue," a senior government official said on condition of anonymity.

"The Palestinians have been able to freely and democratically elect the person who will rule them and we hope they will renounce terrorism and the culture of hatred and death spread by Yasser Arafat", who died two months ago, he added.

As reactions began pouring in over Abbas' projected landslide victory, Palestinian election officials began the arduous task of counting the votes under the watchful
eye of thousands of international monitors. The official result is due to be published early Monday.

Sources close to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon confirmed earlier Sunday that the hawkish Israeli leader was ready to meet the new president immediately, and revive high-level contacts which had been frozen since 2003.

Responding to Abbas' apparent victory, Israel's deputy prime minister Ehud Olmert told US news network CNN that the PLO chairman's main challenge now lay before him in the form of a crackdown on militant groups.

"Now after being elected, the main challenge is still ahead of him. Will he fight the terrorists and stop the bloody war against us?" he asked.

Palestinians Praised

But Olmert also praised the Palestinians for participating in a democratic election process, which took place with any reports of serious incidents.

"I think to the best of my understanding and knowledge it's a democratic process and this in itself is enormously important because it's the only democratic process in the Arab world," Olmert added.

"The prime minister intends to meet the elected Palestinian president as soon possible," a senior Sharon adviser said several hours before the ballot boxes closed, without specifically mentioning Abbas.

The source said any meeting between Sharon and the new president-elect would focus on "security issues and security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority" ahead of Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, which is due to take place later this year.

Perspective

Sharon, who completely boycotted late Yasser Arafat for the last few years, has been cautious not to be seen as endorsing Abbas but lately has said he believes the coming year will present "an opportunity for an historic breakthrough in relations between us and the Palestinians".●