The Hindu : Front Page : Abbas poised for win in Palestinian polls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 10, 2005

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Abbas poised for win in Palestinian polls

By Atul Aneja

MANAMA, JAN. 9. Crucial day-long elections for the Palestinian Authority President post ended tonight, with Mahmoud Abbas emerging as the frontrunner.

Balloting in 3,000 polling stations began at 7 a.m. (local time) and ended at 9 p.m., two hours beyond the scheduled time of closing.

The extension became necessary as out of the 1,60,000 registered Palestinian voters in East Jerusalem only a handful could initially vote at special centres set up by the Israeli authorities in post offices, triggering fears of a low voter turnout.

The former U.S. President, Jimmy Carter, reportedly intervened to work out an arrangement that allowed people to vote in any of the six post offices there.

Dirar Muna, a representative of Mr. Abbas' Fatah faction, however, accused the Israeli authorities of trying to prevent East Jerusalem people from voting.

Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1967, but does not accept its disputed status.

Brisk polling

Polling was otherwise brisk in the Israeli-occupied West bank and Gaza strip. Around 30 per cent of the 1.8 million voters had cast their ballots by 3 p.m. local time. The poll result is expected on Monday.

Among the seven candidates Mustafa Al-Barghouti, a human rights activist, is likely to be in the second place.

Around 800 international observers, including Mr. Carter and the former French Prime Minister, Michel Roland, joined 20,000 local people to monitor the election.

Both Mr. Abbas and Mr. Barghouti during campaign had expressed reservations about the continuation of the Intifada — the four-year-old Palestinian armed uprising.

Hamas' boycott

The Islamic Resistance Movement, popularly known as Hamas, has boycotted the election. The group, however, fielded dozens of observers for the polls.

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