Abbas poised for victory as voting in Palestinian election extended

RAMALLAH- West Bank -AFP

The Palestinian leadership election moved into overtime with PLO chairman Mahmud Abbas poised for a victory that world leaders predicted could lead to a revival of the moribund Middle East peace process.

Voting had been due to end Sunday at 7:00 pm (1700 GMT) but election organisers said booths would stay open for another two hours, blaming Israel for failing to stick to a deal to ease travel restrictions in the occupied territories.

However monitors said that there had been no major problems with only the second ever presidential election and there were no reports of any violence.
The extension of voting was no great surprise. Municipal elections last month were also extended as was the ballot in 1996 when the late Yasser Arafat was elected as the first and so far only head of the Palestinian Authority.

Abbas himself said the vote, a rare exercise in democracy in the Arab world, should be a source of pride for the Palestinians.
“This process is taking place in a marvellous fashion and is an illustration of how the Palestinian people aspire to democracy,” he said after casting his ballot in the Muqataa leadership compound where Arafat is buried.

Israel said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was ready to meet with the winner of the election, a move which could breathe new life into a peace process left in tatters by four years of deadly conflict.
With polls giving him at least a 30 point lead over his nearest rival, the independent Mustafa Barghuti, Abbas’s main fear was that vast swathes of the electorate would heed a boycott call by the radical Islamist movement Hamas.

Despite its call for a boycott, Hamas was making conciliatory noises.
Mahmud Zahar, leader in its Gaza Strip stronghold, said his movement could have run a candidate if it really wanted to undermine Abbas.

“We could undermine Abu Mazen and others by naming our representative… so our opinion is not to undermine. Our system is always constructive, not destructive,” he told reporters, vowing that his movement will deal with Sunday’s winner.

Prime minister Ahmed Qorei said the election had underlined the Palestinian people’s commitment to the path of peace and democracy.
“Today we have sent a crystal clear message to the world, to our people and to the region,” said Qorei, who Abbas intends to reappoint as premier. “We, the Palestinian people, have shown that our choice is for peace and democracy.”

Barghuti took a less positive view of the proceedings, charging that there had been blatant irregularities, claiming that the supposedly indelible ink marked on the thumbnails of voters could be washed off with water.

During his campaign, former prime minister Abbas leant heavily on the legacy of his old boss Arafat even though the pair enjoyed an often tempestuous relationship.
Much of his campaign rhetoric has been straight out of the Arafat textbook with calls for the creation of an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital, the right of return for refugees and the release of all prisoners held by Israel.

However Abbas, who has already stepped up to take control of the PLO, also dotted his speeches with controversial criticism of the armed Palestinian uprising as well as hammering home his desire to implement long-delayed institutional reforms and end the security chaos which pervades the streets of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
An Abbas presidency is likely to lead to a resumption of top-level talks with Israel, frozen since Abbas walked out after a short stint as Arafat’s first premier in September 2003.

One of Sharon‘s senior aides said the prime minister was ready to meet the winner.
“The prime minister intends to meet the elected Palestinian president as soon possible,” he said, stopping short of referring specifically to Abbas.

World leaders said the emergence of a new leader represented an important opportunity to advance the peace process.
“I think that for the first time in a long time we’ve got a possibility of progress here,” British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.

“You’ve got a new Israeli government that is committed to try to reinvigorate the peace process. You’ve got a new Palestinian leadership that’s committed to the same thing.”
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was “very impressed by the Palestinians and their transition process after Yasser Arafat’s death”, pointing out that Abbas and Sharon had already shown they can do business together.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington was poised to take a more active role in the Middle East following the election.
“With good will and good leadership coming into the Palestinian Authority, it is now time to get going on the roadmap. And President Bush has made it clear that the United States will play an active role in the execution of the roadmap,” Powell said in reference to the internationally-backed peace plan which has made next to no progress since its launch in 2003.

Preliminary results are expected shortly after polls close although a final announcement is not scheduled until Monday.

9-1-2005

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