It looks like Abbas has won Palestines elections

[bathory]

Abbas claims Palestinian poll win

Mahmoud Abbas needed a strong mandate, analysts said

Mahmoud Abbas has claimed victory in the Palestinian presidential election and dedicated his win to late leader Yasser Arafat.

Exit polls suggest Mr Abbas won around two-thirds of the vote but an official result is not likely until Monday.

The Central Elections Commission said turnout was at least 66%.

Analysts said Mr Abbas needed a wide margin of victory and high turnout to push his agenda of peace talks and an end to the armed Palestinian uprising.

Polling closed at 1900 GMT on Sunday, two hours later than scheduled after voting difficulties forced an extension.

Late surge

Mr 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.

One exit poll by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research has given Mr Abbas 66% of the vote and his closest challenger, Mustafa Barghouti, 19.7%.

MAHMOUD ABBAS

Moderate head of main political faction Fatah

Seen as someone Israel will talk to

Willing to talk peace with Israel

Wants end to Palestinian armed uprising

Pledges to stick to key positions of late Yasser Arafat

A second by An Najah University gives Mr Abbas 69.5% and Mr Barghouti 24.5%.

However, a late surge in voting means it may be some time before official figures are known.

US President George W Bush praised Sunday's election.

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".

There are 1.8m Palestinians who are eligible to vote.

Voting was reported 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.

These elections are... a momentous move towards political reform and modern democracy

Watan, Gaza City

Your say: Palestinian poll

In Pictures: Palestinians vote

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.

One election monitor said he thought up to 500 voters had been turned away.

Under special voting arrangements for East Jerusalem - which Israel has annexed and sees as its exclusive domain, while international law decrees it to be occupied territory - Palestinians are allowed to vote in Israeli post offices.

Boycott call

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.

Officials revised the rules in a way that appeared to allow people to cast their ballots wherever they wanted, rather than at specific polling stations. A human rights group said it would seek court action over the irregularities.

Palestinians say who they will be voting for in the elections

In pictures

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.

The BBC News website's Martin Asser says the extension had put pressure on polling station staff who were already complaining of fatigue after working non-stop for 12 hours.

Earlier, casting his vote at the Ramallah compound where Arafat is buried, Mr Abbas - also known as Abu Mazen - said the vote was taking place in a "marvellous" fashion.

"It is an illustration of how the Palestinian people aspire to democracy," he said.

Palestinian militant group Hamas had called for a boycott of the vote, but on Sunday a spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said: "We will deal with the elected president despite our boycott."

Source: BBC

so thoughts people? i don't know anything about this guy so i won't comment, but Erikl? thoughts? how is it being taken in Israel? I also found the last paragraph kind of funny

Palestinian militant group Hamas had called for a boycott of the vote, but on Sunday a spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said: "We will deal with the elected president despite our boycott."

How would they deal with him

[Erikl]

Well, first of all, this is the first step into real Arab democracy, which is good anyhow.

But, free elections isn't everything about democracy.

They should seperate the authorities instead of concentrating all the powers into one body\person.

Those elections are much more democratic than the ones in 1996, when Arafat got elected.

It would be better though if they would have elections every 4-5 years, instead of everytime their elected president dies .

This, together with the recent survey which concluded that 98% of the Palestinian women, and 96% of the Palestinian men, know how to read and write, shows that Israel's presence among the Palestinians, although caused a lot of damage to both sides, might have spreaded the "western" cancer into Arab society (for example, Egypt, which considered to be the most educated and advanced Arab country, stands well after the Palestinians, with only about 70% of the population literate), in the form of some sort of democracy as well as western education.

Anyhow, many in Israel are suspicious about Abu-Mazen.

As opposed the Arafat, he is a real Palestinian (Arafat was Egyptian).

Also, he seem to be against the current Intifada, stating that it was a mistake (what isn't clear, is weather or not he thinks any violence is wrong, or that only this current intifada was wrong...).

He is relatively un-related to terrorism in the past, except for him being suspected to plan and stand behind the Munich Olympic massacre of 1973, which makes him suspected by many in the Israeli society.

He also wrote a book has part of his master degree in the Moscow university, where he refuted the Holocaust, stating it was a "Zionist propaganda" .

He also said pretty harsh things during the elections campaign, so it is left to see whether it was just propaganda to gain more votes, or if he really meant that.

But on the whole, there is hope on both sides.

Abu-Mazen is currently seen as a much better alternative to Arafat. He isn't labeled a "terrorist" by most Israeli society, but there is also fear that because of his lack of broad involvment in terrorism, he might not have enough influence to stop terrorism.

If he'll stop terrorism, stop the corruption, and will go back to the negotiation table and will agree to comprimise on certain issues, then he is the right person for the job, IMHO.

EDIT: btw, Abu-Mazen = Mahmud Abbas.

Edited January 10, 2005 by Erikl