Abbas headed for decisive victory

Mahmoud Abbas won 66% of the vote in the Palestinian presidential election today, according to an exit poll.

Such a margin of victory would give Abbas a clear mandate to renew peace talks with Israel, rein in militants and reform the corruption-riddled Palestinian Authority.

Abbas’ main challenger, Mustafa Barghouti, won 19.7% of the vote, according to the poll conducted by the independent Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research.

The poll was based on responses from about 10,000 voters, with an error margin of three percentage points.