Musharraf congratulates Palestine's Abbas on election victory
Pakistan Times Monitoring Desk

ISLAMABAD: President General Pervez Musharraf, in a telephone call Sunday evening congratulated newly-elected President of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.

The President also conveyed warm felicitations to him on behalf of the Government and the people of Pakistan.

Musharraf said that Mahmoud Abbas’s election was testimony to the Palestinian people’s trust and confidence in his leadership as well as to his contribution to the Palestinian cause.

The President also reiterated Pakistan’s support to the Palestinian cause and to the creation of the sovereign and independent Palestinian State.

Pakistan, he said was against the construction of the illegal Separation Wall and usurpation of the Palestinian territory by Israel.

The President said that taking advantage of the smooth political transition in Palestine, the international community should step up efforts for a just solution of the conflict and help the new President in his efforts to achieve this objective.

Official Results

Meanwhile, latest reports say that moderate Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has won a landslide victory in the Palestinian presidential election.

Official results said Abbas also known as Abu Mazen had won 62.3% of the vote. Turnout was reported to have been at least 66%.

His nearest rival Mustafa Barghouti has acknowledged defeat, but said it was a victory for Palestinian democracy.

Israel has welcomed the result and urged Abbas to clamp down on extermistPalestinian groups.

Dedicates Victory to Arafat

Analysts have said he needs a large margin of victory to push his agenda of peace talks with Israel.

In a speech, Abbas dedicated the victory to the soul of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Abbas also called on militant Palestinian groups, who boycotted the election, to end their armed uprising against Israeli occupation.

A representative of Hamas, Mahmoud Zahar said that the new President wouldn't succeed because Israel wouldn't give him a chance.

Meeting with Sharon

Abbas has indicated that he wants to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as soon as possible.

Israeli officials say that Sharon is prepared to hold security talks with the new Palestinian leader, but full-scale peace negotiations would have to wait.

Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert welcomed the election of Abbas, describing him as a " promising leader", but urged him to fight terror.

"Simple as that... If he [Abbas] meets this threshold, then everything opens up and there are great opportunities," Olmert said.

Bush Reax

President Bush, for his part, said he was looking forward to working with the new Palestinian leader to help advance the cause of peace.

He said it was, along with upcoming parliamentary polls, "essential for the establishment of a sovereign, independent, viable, democratic and peaceful Palestinian state that can live alongside a safe and secure Israel".

Abbas at Rally

Abbas addressed a rally of hundreds of supporters in the West Bank town of Ramallah, telling them: "I present this victory to the soul of Yasser Arafat and present it to our people, to our martyrs and to 11,000 prisoners" in Israeli jails.

Brisk Voting

Voting was reported to have been brisk, but there were problems with registration, heavy turnout and the turning away of hundreds of voters from a big Israeli-run polling station in East Jerusalem. Some chaotic scenes were reported there.

Voters complained that Israeli officials were not allowing them to vote even though the Palestinian central election commission had properly registered them.

Although voting seemed to go smoothly for most of the day in Gaza, there were reports of chaotic scenes outside polling stations in the evening.

At a polling station in Ramallah in the West Bank, five Palestinian gunmen fired into the air in frustration that some names had been left off lists. They were persuaded to leave the station.●