GAZA CITY, 25 January 2006 — On the eve of the second ever general elections, President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday called upon Palestinian voters to turn out in large numbers while the armed factions pledged to ensure the ballot passed off peacefully.
Abbas’ Fatah party is facing an unprecedented challenge to its long grip on power in today’s vote from the Islamist movement Hamas, with a new poll predicting it will lose its majority in the Ramallah-based legislature. The possibility of Hamas either winning or at least being able to demand a seat in the Cabinet threatens to plunge the stalled peace process into yet more trouble. Israel has vowed not to deal with a movement that refuses to recognize its right to exist and has carried out dozens of bomb attacks.
Major international players in the peace process, such as the United States and European Union, have also warned they will have major problems dealing with Hamas as long as it continues to advocate the use of violence. While foreign observers have been encouraged by the relative lack of violence ahead of the poll, the overnight killing of a Fatah campaign staffer in the West Bank city of Nablus underlined the potential for serious problems.
After meeting former US President Jimmy Carter, one of the vote’s overseers, Abbas called the election “a right of every citizen which should be exercised.” A spate of attacks on government buildings and the offices of the central elections commission in southern Gaza earlier this month had raised fears that the whole process, already postponed last July, could be further delayed.
The unrest has since largely abated and the main armed factions, including the military wing of Hamas and the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, issued a joint statement calling for all Palestinians to take part in the vote.
“We assert that we will not allow any element to confiscate your right to vote and elect your representatives,” it said.
The head of a team of EU observers meanwhile expressed “deep concern” to the Israeli authorities after a Palestinian teenager was shot dead by troops close to a Jewish settlement near Ramallah overnight.
“The Israeli government assured the international community that it would reduce IDF (Israel Defense Forces) activity to avoid any possible incidents before the elections,” Veronique de Keyser said.
Palestinian security sources said 25 armed police would be posted inside each of the nearly 1,000 polling stations in the West Bank and Gaza, with other security officers stationed outside booths.
An intensified police presence could be seen on the streets of Gaza City as dusk fell, with security forces taking up positions in and around voting centers.
— With input from agencies
