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 | | From: | AP | | Subject: | Palestinians Elect Abbas by Wide Margin | | Date: | Sun, 9 Jan 2005 22:50:09 EST |
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*Associated Press/AP Online
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Mahmoud Abbas declared victory in
Palestinian presidential elections on Sunday after exit polls showed
him winning by a wide margin, giving him a decisive mandate to renew
peace talks with Israel, rein in militants and try to end more than
four years of Mideast bloodshed.
The victory of the staid and pragmatic Abbas, who opposes
violence and has the backing of the international community, was
expected to usher in a new era, after four decades of chaotic and
corruption-riddled rule by Yasser Arafat who died Nov. 11.
"There is a difficult mission ahead to build our state,
to achieve security for our people ... to give our prisoners
freedom, our fugitives a life in dignity, to reach our goal of an
independent state," Abbas said in an acceptance speech in the
West Bank city of Ramallah.
Abbas, popularly known as Abu Mazen, has promised to reform
the Palestinian Authority, overhaul the unwieldy Palestinian
security services and quickly resume negotiations with Israel,
stalled for four years.
"We, the Palestinians, are drawing our future with our
own hands. We will be the symbol of democracy and freedom,"
said Aya Abdel Kader, 45, a lawyer voting at a Gaza City school.
President Bush, who has said a resumption of peace talks
must be accompanied by sweeping Palestinian reforms, called Abbas'
election "a historic day for the Palestinian people."
"Palestinians throughout the West Bank and Gaza took a
key step toward building a democratic future by choosing a new
president in elections that observers describe as largely free and
fair," Bush said in a statement issued two hours after polls
closed.
Abbas' political objectives are the same as Arafat's: a
Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem,
and a solution for Palestinian refugees and their descendants.
After results of three exit polls were announced - giving
Abbas up to 70 percent support - his supporters celebrated in the
streets. In the West Bank city of Hebron, motorists honked horns and
waved Abbas posters. In Ramallah, gunmen fired in the air.
Abbas said he was dedicating his victory to the memory of
Arafat, to the Palestinian people, to those killing in fighting with
Israel and to thousands of Palestinians in Israeli prisoners.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expects to meet with
Abbas soon, his aides said. Israeli officials said that in a gesture
to Abbas, Israel plans to release some of the more than 7,000
Palestinian prisoners, provided Abbas stop militants from firing
rockets at Israeli towns.
"I think this vote shows a change in the Palestinian
street" moving away from support of violence, said Sharon aide
Raanan Gissin.
"We certainly welcome this and hope that from this
mandate Abu Mazen will lead the Palestinian people on the path of
reconciliation," he added.
Bush also said the United States will help Abbas and the
Palestinian people address the challenges and help create two
states, Israel and Palestine, side by side in peace. He said other
countries, including Israel, must do their part.
Polls were open for 14 hours, two more than originally
planned after the Central Election Commission extended voting until
9 p.m., citing logistical problems. One election official said the
decision came amid heavy pressure from Fatah, which was concerned a
low turnout could weaken Abbas.
At least 66 percent of 1.1 million registered voters cast
ballots, election officials said, adding the figure was expected to
rise, since unregistered voters also participated in the election.
Final results were to be announced Monday morning.
Two of the exit polls gave Abbas at least 66 percent of the
vote and a third gave him as much as 70 percent, while Abbas' main
challenger, independent Mustafa Barghouti had between 20 and 25
percent. The remaining five candidates scored in the low single
digits. The polls had a margin of error of between three and five
percentage points.
The election, the first presidential vote in nine years,
proceeded largely without interruption. In one incident, gunmen
fired in the air in an election office and in Jerusalem, voters
complained of confusing arrangements.
Barghouti complained that the Central Election Commission
had changed rules in mid-game, by extending voting by two hours and
by allowing voters to cast ballots at any location, rather than
where they lived or registered.
Analysts have said Abbas needs at least 60 percent support
to resume negotiations with Israel. "He (Abbas) has a mandate
from the voters," pollster Khalil Shekaki said of the exit
polls.
However, Abbas faces a lengthy list of challenges. He must
balance between Israel's demand to crack down on militants and his
efforts to co-opt the gunmen. A major attack on Israel could
undermine his credibility and sour peace hopes.
Major militant groups have indicated they are willing to
halt attacks and give him a chance. However, the Lebanese guerrilla
group Hezbollah, which funds some of the Palestinian militants, is
trying to undercut Abbas, according to people close to the group.
Earlier this week, Hezbollah-funded gunmen with ties to
Abbas' ruling Fatah movement killed an Israeli soldier in a West
Bank ambush. On Sunday, Hezbollah carried out a deadly cross-border
attack. An Israeli soldier, a French U.N. observer and a Hezbollah
fighter were killed in the confrontation.
The Palestinian election came a day before Israel's
parliament was to approve a new, more moderate coalition, seen as a
boost for a planned Gaza withdrawal. In the new alliance, Sharon
will govern with elder statesman Shimon Peres, leader of the
moderate Labor Party, and an architect of interim peace deals with
the Palestinians. Sharon has talked of restarting the long-stalled
"road map" peace plan and coordinating his Gaza plan with
Abbas.
The Israeli army eased travel restrictions for the vote,
witnessed by hundreds of foreign observers, including former
President Jimmy Carter and former French Premier Michel Rocard.
Many gunmen followed rules barring weapons in voting
stations, but in a sign of the difficulty the new president will
face in controlling them, Zakariye Zubeidi, a militant leader,
refused to give up his M-16 assault rifle when he walked into a
polling station in the West Bank town of Jenin.
In Jerusalem, Palestinians and international observers
complained of confusion over registration lists, and Palestinians
accused Israel of trying to intimidate them.
By prior agreement with Israel, only about 5,000 of 120,000
eligible voters in Jerusalem - a city both sides claim as their
capital - were permitted to vote in post offices in the city. The
others had to vote in suburbs.
Backed by Fatah's formidable machine, Abbas was nearly
assured of victory well before the vote when his toughest
competition, jailed uprising leader Marwan Barghouti, pulled out and
the largest opposition group, Hamas, declared a boycott.
Regardless, many saw the vote, which Arafat had repeatedly
delayed, as a hopeful sign the Palestinians were building a
democratic foundation. Palestinian leaders have already scheduled a
parliamentary election for July 17.
Many Palestinian refugees outside the West Bank and Gaza
complained they could not vote for the person who would represent
them in peace talks. The refugee issue has been a key sticking point
in past peace talks, with Palestinians demanding they be allowed to
return to the homes inside Israel that they fled or were driven from
during the 1948 Middle East War.
Israel says it will not allow them to return, frightened
their numbers would overwhelm the country and damage its Jewish
character.
But eligible voters cast their ballots with great hope.
"The election is our weapon to change our lives," said
Souad Radwan, a 46-year-old teacher in Gaza's Jebaliya refugee camp,
whose house was demolished during a recent Israeli raid into the
camp. "We are sick of the occupation and this troubled
life."
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