GAZA CITY, 3 December 2004 — Islamic Jihad said yesterday it would boycott a Jan. 9 Palestinian presidential election for a successor to Yasser Arafat. Palestinian officials said 10 candidates will run for president.
Senior Islamic Jihad official Mohammed Al-Hindi said his group would not field a candidate and was urging its members not to vote.
Hamas, another militant Palestinian group, declared a similar boycott on Wednesday.
Their decision to shun the election could undercut moderates like Mahmoud Abbas, a former prime minister who is running as the candidate of Fatah, the dominant Palestinian faction that seeks a state side-by-side with Israel.
Abbas wants an armed Palestinian revolt against Israel in occupied territories to stop and to renew peace talks with the Jewish state aimed at a Palestinian state there.
“Islamic Jihad has decided not to participate in the presidential elections of the Palestinian Authority,” Hindi said. “Islamic Jihad will not field a candidate and will not endorse any other candidate.”
The boycott reflects Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s view of the election as a tool to prop up the Palestinian Authority, created under interim peace deals Arafat forged with Israel a decade ago that Islamists rejected.
“The Palestinian people are under occupation,” Hindi said. “They are looking forward to someday having a real election in a sovereign state in a liberated land. These conditions unfortunately do not apply to the Palestinian Authority presidential elections which are being held under the gun of the occupation.”
Aside from Abbas, the list of candidates includes intifada leader Marwan Barghouti who is serving five life sentences in an Israeli jail. Barghouti’s last-minute candidacy has upset Abbas’ chances and thrown the Palestinian political arena into turmoil. Palestinian officials have called on Barghouti to withdraw his candidacy to maintain unity among Palestinian ranks.
“Candidates have until midnight on Dec. 15 to withdraw their candidacy,” Rami Hamdullah, secretary-general of the Central Elections Committee (CEC), told a news conference in Ramallah.
Hamdullah said so far 71 percent of the Palestinian electorate, or 1,282,524 Palestinians, had registered to vote. “The CEC has approved 10 applications and rejected two due to ineligibility,” he said.
The eight other candidates are: Abdel Sattar Qassem (Independent); Bassam Salhi (Palestine People Party); Tayssir Khaled (Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine); Abdel Karim Shbier (Independent); Hassan Khreisheh (Independent); Abdel Halim Al-Ashqar (Independent); Alsaied Barakah (Independent); and Mustafa Barghouti (Independent).
In Cairo, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Abbas would probably win the vote and Barghouti’s decision to run for president had damaged Palestinian unity.
“Fatah has nominated Abu Mazen and Abu Mazen, I think, will be the one to win,” Mubarak said, referring to Abbas by his nom de guerre.
“There is Marwan Barghouti. He said ‘no’, then came back again (and said ‘yes’). It splits the Palestinian line and we urge the Palestinians that there should be one voice and no differences at a time when we need to stay clear of differences,” Mubarak said.
Mubarak said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had told Egyptian officials who visited the Jewish state on Wednesday he was ready to help the Palestinians hold the elections by allowing freedom of movement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
