/ 10 January 2005

Landslide victory for Abbas

Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday night won a landslide victory in the Palestinian presidential election and was on Monday expected to outline his vision of a post-Yasser Arafat future.

The militant Islamic group Hamas, which boycotted the elections along with another militant group, Islamic Jihad, said on Monday it could work with Abbas, but questioned his real margin of victory and complained of electoral irregularities.

Election officials confirmed that Abbas had won 62,32% of the vote, citing partial results from 10 out of 16 voting districts. An official said Abbas’s nearest rival, Mustapha Barghouti, had secured 21%, and Barghouti on Monday conceded defeat.

Analysts said Abbas’s victory held out the promise of breakthrough in the Middle East peace process after four decades of rule by Arafat, who died on November 11.

The new Palestinian leader has the tough task of reining in powerful armed groups without losing their backing.

In his acceptance speech, Abbas said he faced a difficult mission, but reiterated that he would not go after militants. Instead, he said, he wanted to ”give our fugitives a life of dignity”, referring to those wanted by Israel.

”I present this victory to the soul of Yasser Arafat and present it to our people and to our martyrs,” Abbas said, referring to Palestinians killed in the conflict with Israel.

Most militant groups have indicated they are willing to halt attacks against Israel and give Abbas a chance, although the Lebanese Hizbullah guerrillas, who fund some of the Palestinian militants, are trying to sabotage attempts to attain a truce.

On Sunday Hizbullah carried out a cross-border attack, setting off an exchange that resulted in the death of an Israeli soldier, a French United Nations observer and a militant fighter.

The US president, George Bush, praised the election as an ”historic” step to statehood and offered Abbas his help in a new push for peace, while calling on Israel to improve the humanitarian situation for Palestinians.

Israel’s deputy prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said a Palestinian crackdown on militants was a precondition for any progress in the peace process, including consulting with the Palestinians on the planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip this summer.

The Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, was to convene his new, more moderate Cabinet for a first meeting on Monday, in another step toward a Gaza pullback.

Sharon’s new coalition partners, Shimon Peres’s Labour party and a small ultra-Orthodox faction, ensure a parliamentary majority for a Gaza withdrawal, despite opposition from hardliners, including some in Sharon’s ruling Likud party.

Sharon plans to meet Abbas soon, the Israeli leader’s aides said. In a first gesture, Israel plans to release some of the more than 7 000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, officials said on condition of anonymity.

Barghouti praised the process as a victory for Palestinian democracy, although earlier he had complained that thousands had been unable to vote. The central election commission changed voting procedures midway through the election, keeping polling stations open an additional two hours and allowing voters to cast their ballots at any location, not just in their hometowns,

One election official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the changes came after heavy pressure from Abbas’s Fatah movement, which feared a low turnout could weaken him in victory.

Final results were expected around midday local time (10am GMT), but the exit poll results sent cheering supporters into the streets of the West Bank and Gaza Strip late last night. Gunmen fired in the air, motorists honked horns and members of Fatah, wearing black and white chequered headbands, danced in the streets.

Many Palestinians had high expectations. ”The election is our weapon to change our life,” said Souad Radwan (46) a teacher from the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza, whose house was demolished in an Israeli raid. ”We are sick of the [Israeli] occupation and this troubled life.”

In Washington, Bush said: ”The United States stands ready to help the Palestinian people realise their aspirations. The new Palestinian president and his Cabinet face critical tasks ahead, including fighting terrorism, combating corruption, building reformed and democratic institutions and reviving the Palestinian economy.” – Guardian Unlimited Â