Poles close in Palestinian election

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flooded polling stations today to cast ballots in their first parliamentary election in a decade, 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.

Pre-election polls showed the two parties almost in a dead heat in the race for the 132 parliament seats, and a post-election coalition – either between Hamas and Fatah or with some of the nine other parties running – was expected.

Long lines formed at polling stations and by 4pm local time, 57.6% of 1.3 million eligible voters had cast ballots.

Polls closed at 7pm (5pm Irish time) and exit polls are expected in about two hours.

Official results were expected late tonight or tomorrow morning.

Hamas’ success has alarmed Israel and the West, but Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas argued that luring the group, responsible for dozens of deadly attacks on Israel, into politics would tame it and increase the chances for peace.

The election will usher in a new parliament and Cabinet, but Abbas, who was elected last year, will remain head of the Palestinian Authority regardless of the results.

Palestinians were given the day off to vote and the election was held in a celebratory atmosphere that was rare in the recent years of fighting with Israel.

Some activists covered their cars with red carnations, as if for a wedding, and others blasted campaign songs from car stereos and storefront speakers.

Campaign posters hung on nearly every wall, dangled from electric lines over the street and were plastered to the hoods of passing cars. Some children ran through the streets wearing the green flag of Hamas as a cape. Others wore the black-and-white chequered scarf of Fatah.

Some 13,500 police officers guarded the 1,008 polling stations to prevent gunmen from disrupting the vote, and there were no reports of major violence. In the West Bank’s Balata refugee camp, militants who had threatened to burn down polling stations checked their assault rifles at the door with a flourish and peacefully voted.

However, police in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis fired into the air to push back a crowd of impatient voters and a phalanx of Israeli police prevented hard-line Israeli lawmakers and extremists from forcing their way into a polling station in east Jerusalem.

Hoping to harness a wave of discontent with Fatah’s mismanagement, Hamas ran an anti-corruption campaign, branding its party Reform and Change.

Fatah appealed for another chance to clean up the government and expand an economy shattered by nearly five years of fighting with Israel. Many Fatah voters said they were grudgingly supporting the ruling party out of old loyalties.

Though the election appeared likely to turn on internal issues, the results will have deep implications for future peace efforts with Israel.

Abbas said today he is prepared to resume peace talks, even if Hamas joins his government. Hamas is expected to ask for service ministries – health, education and welfare – and to leave diplomacy to others.

“We are ready to negotiate,” Abbas said. “We are partners with the Israelis. They don’t have the right to choose their partner.”

Israel says it will not deal with Hamas until it disarms. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said that if a solution to the conflict cannot be reached through peace talks, then Israel will take more unilateral steps in the vein of its Gaza withdrawal last year.

Hamas’ top candidate, Ismail Haniyeh, said today that the group had no intention of laying down its arms after the elections as Abbas said he expects.

And another prominent candidate, Mahmoud Zahar, said his group is “not going to change a single word” in its covenant calling for Israel’s destruction.

The US government lists Hamas as a terrorist organisation, but State Department spokesman Sean McCormack refused to rule out negotiations with a Palestinian government that includes Hamas ministers.

The outcome of the vote could hinge on turnout and party organisation.

In the Amari camp, a traditional bastion of Fatah support, Hamas sent teams from house to house to rouse its supporters.

Fatah activists said they had only the barest program to get their voters to the polls.

Nearly 20,000 local observers and 950 international monitors – led by former US President Jimmy Carter – were watching the vote. There were some allegations of fraud in the 1996 parliament election and the 2005 presidential election, but monitors said they weren’t widespread.

An international observer said there had been isolated incidents but no pattern of violence. He said there had been widespread campaigning around polling stations, in violation of Palestinian electoral rules, but it did not appear to have hindered voting.

The election brought to an end a sometimes odd campaign. Many candidates, including the leader of Fatah’s slate, Marwan Barghouti, were in Israeli or Palestinian jails. Other candidates were fugitives who shied away from rallies fearing Israeli security forces would nab them.

Regardless of the outcome, the vote marked a victory for Abbas’ efforts to move Hamas from armed confrontation into politics and to strengthen Palestinian democracy.

The Palestinians had not had a parliamentary election since their first in 1996, with Arafat saying new elections could not be held under occupation. After Arafat’s death on Nov. 11, 2004, Abbas quickly held – and won – an election to choose a successor. He pushed through with the election Wednesday, despite pressure from Fatah officials to call off the vote because of Hamas’ strength.