Abbas Claims Palestinian Ballot Victory

RAMALLAH, West Bank â€”  Mahmoud Abbas appeared headed for a resounding victory Sunday in a watershed election for Palestinian Authority president, a win that would cement his status as successor to Yasser Arafat and immediately present him with a daunting list of demands from both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli divide.

Abbas claimed victory after two independent Palestinian exit polls showed him with a more than 3-1 lead over his nearest competitor, physician and rights activist Mustafa Barghouti. Five other candidates drew smaller numbers of votes.

“There are difficult tasks ahead. How are we going to build a state of security and safety? How shall we solve the issue of prisoners, how to solve the issue of our fugitives?� he said, referring to those who are in Israeli jails or sought by Israeli authorities.

Abbas, 69, who became chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization following Arafat’s death in November, had been widely favored to win. Official voting results are expected today.

Abbas has called for a halt to violence and said he was ready to resume negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon under the so-called road map, a U.S.-backed peace plan that calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state by the end of this year. His victory is likely to please Israel and the United States, which regard him as a relative moderate and the best hope for reviving Middle East peace efforts.

Others see Abbas as a transitional figure who will make way for a younger generation of leaders.

Palestinians flocked to the nearly 1,100 voting stations amid a carnival-like atmosphere. Vendors set up shop near polling places, selling juice and candy on a day off from work and school. Little girls traded sweets while their fathers smoked and sipped tiny cups of strong, black coffee, talking endlessly of the day’s events.

Election officials extended balloting for two hours and opened it up to anyone with a Palestinian identification card, prompting protest from Barghouti. Authorities said they were seeking to accommodate thousands of voters in the Gaza Strip and West Bank who had trouble determining where they were supposed to cast their ballots. Some voters had difficulty reaching polling places because of Israeli checkpoints, Palestinian officials said.

Few serious problems were reported, however, as voters braved a wintry chill to take part in the first election for Palestinian Authority president since 1996. The Central Election Commission said turnout was at least 70%. Some commentators had said Abbas would need a turnout of two-thirds of the 1.8 million eligible voters to claim a broad mandate.

Hundreds of foreign observers, including former President Carter and a delegation sent by President Bush, were on hand to monitor the voting. Their reports were generally positive, and observers said Israel appeared to have made good on promises to pull back soldiers, allowing voters to get to polling places. Palestinian officials, however, said that some were impeded by checkpoints.

Confusion was rampant in East Jerusalem, where Israel designated only a handful of polling places. The vast majority of the city’s 170,000 eligible Palestinian voters had to travel to outlying areas.

To prevent possible voting fraud, Palestinian elections officials employed transparent ballot boxes and daubed purple ink on voters’ thumbs to ensure that no one cast more than one ballot. Barghouti’s camp complained that the ink washed off easily.

Voters appeared enthusiastic to participate, despite the apparent certainty of the outcome.

“We want some kind of solution,� said Hanna Khnouf, a 52-year-old mechanical contractor who cast his vote for Abbas at a Ramallah girls school.

“It’s a terrible situation. We want to finish this in some way.�

Since Arafat’s Nov. 11 death, many Palestinians have hoped for new leaders who will clean up a corrupt government and help end more than four years of violence with Israel. Those expectations now rest with Abbas, a longtime PLO functionary who has urged an end to armed struggle.

Palestinians boasted that the election was a rare instance of democracy at work in the Arab world and marked a pivotal moment in the evolution of the movement for an independent state.

“This is the beginning of what could be a great transformation of Palestinian society. This vote is an expression of yearning to move away from our status as a tribal state of warring gangs, armed to the teeth, and toward the real process of nation building,� said Eyad Sarraj, a prominent human-rights activist in the Gaza Strip.

The new president inherits a Palestinian government discredited by corruption and mismanagement and hobbled by the intifada, or uprising, now in its fifth year. The conflict has shattered the Palestinian economy and left its public fatigued.

The leader also must find a way to head off strife among Palestinian factions, including clashes within a patchwork of official security forces. Abbas’ Fatah movement, which dominates Palestinian politics, is itself divided, with a restive younger breed seeking more power.

It remains to be seen how much trouble the new president will encounter from Islamist groups such as Hamas, which boycotted the election. The group is expected to run in parliamentary balloting this summer, as it did in last month’s first phase of municipal elections. So far, Hamas candidates have fared better than expected in the local votes.

Abbas has said that the militants who launch rockets at Israeli communities from the Gaza Strip only invite forceful reactions by Israel and hurt Palestinians more than help them.

The militants have defied Abbas, however, continuing their rocket salvos and even asking him to apologize for his criticism. If the new president is unable to bring the fighters to heel through persuasion, he may face the unappealing prospect of using force.

Israel’s Channel Two reported that Hamas had made an agreement with the Abbas camp to refrain from election-day violence. In Gaza, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar said that although Hamas was not participating in the vote, it had decided to “respect� the process.

Some analysts believe that Hamas, battered by Israel’s assassinations of most of its top leaders, will turn increasingly to electoral politics, although the group’s power at the ballot box will largely depend on whether Palestinians’ daily lives get better under continued Fatah leadership.

If conditions improve under Abbas, “Hamas will become only a voice in opposition,� said Manuel Hassassian, a political science professor at Bethlehem University in the West Bank.

In Gaza City, a steady stream of voters cast ballots, even though the coastal territory is a Hamas stronghold. “This vote allows us to choose the best man for our people,� said Issa Barghouti, a 53-year-old engineer.

Among the new president’s greatest challenges will be quelling the lawlessness that has plagued Gaza and the northern West Bank in recent months. “We are afraid to walk the streets,� said Itab Kabaha, 26, a teacher who voted in Ramallah.

No matter who is president, many Palestinians say, Israel wields the most power over their daily lives and holds the key to easing their hardships. Israeli checkpoints and raids targeting armed militants have damaged commerce while making it difficult for ordinary people to get from one place to another.

“What Israel wants, we will get. Nothing else,� said Najwa Khoury, 50, a university administrative assistant who voted in Bir Zeit, outside Ramallah.

Abbas will surely encounter hefty expectations from Israel. Officials with the Jewish state say the new Palestinian leadership must curb militant groups and anti-Israel incitement. Israel is considering releasing some Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a halt to the rocket attacks, Israeli media reported Sunday.

“Now, after being elected, the main challenge is still ahead for him,� Israeli Vice Premier Ehud Olmert said Sunday on CNN’s “Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer.� “Will he fight against the terrorists? Will he try to stop this bloody, violent war against the state of Israel? This is the main question.�

Sharon refused to deal with Arafat, saying he encouraged terrorism.

In a statement, the White House praised the strong turnout and said the United States was willing to help the Palestinians fight terrorism, combat corruption, build democracy and revive their economy. It also called on Israel to improve Palestinians’ living conditions and economic situation.

The two-week Palestinian campaign drew relatively little attention in Israel, generating scant debate or news coverage. Israelis were consumed with their own issues, including Sharon’s struggle to form a new coalition government and opposition within the army to carrying out Sharon’s plan to withdraw Jewish settlements and troops from the Gaza Strip this year.

Sharon ordered his senior aides to say as little as possible about the Palestinian campaign, aware that any evidence of even tacit support would harm Abbas. Israel also expressed minimal reaction to campaign rhetoric that would have been considered a provocation if the two sides were engaged in negotiations.

Sharon has said he would coordinate Israel’s withdrawal of settlements and troops with a Palestinian leadership that took action against militants. Palestinian officials say the withdrawal plan, which calls for removing all 21 Jewish communities in Gaza and four in a remote corner of the West Bank, should be part of a wider agreement. They fear that it is a means for Israel to solidify its grip on other parts of the West Bank.

Abbas, a onetime Palestinian negotiator with admirers on the Israeli side, will seek more fruitful dealings with Sharon than he had as prime minister in 2003. Abbas resigned after four months, frustrated by constant run-ins with Arafat and resentful that Sharon had refused him any major achievements, such as a large-scale release of prisoners.

However, as the No. 2 figure in the PLO, Abbas was quickly named chairman after Arafat died and later nominated by Fatah as its candidate for Palestinian Authority president.

Public support for Abbas shot up from single digits before Arafat’s death to surpass 60% in a poll released a week ago.

In contrast to the fiery, charismatic Arafat, Abbas is colorless and retiring. But many Palestinian moderates viewed his calls to end violence as a daring move.

After his comments were publicized, polls showed an increase in Palestinians who opposed armed struggle.