Polls close after huge Palestinians turn-out

HUNDREDS of thousands of Palestinians flooded polling stations yesterday to cast ballots in their first parliamentary election in a decade.

It was a watershed vote that will bring Islamic militants into the political fold and set Palestinians on a course of negotiation or confrontation with Israel.The Palestinians' first truly competitive election helped cement democracy in the post-Yasser Arafat era, but it was also likely to give unprecedented power to Hamas, the Islamic party that calls for Israel's destruction.

Hamas activists fanned out across neighbourhoods in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in a highly organised get-out-the-vote effort likely to aide its challenge to Fatah, which is reeling from corruption allegations after running the Palestinian Authority for 12 years.