RAMALLAH, West Bank – Mahmoud Abbas was elected Palestinian Authority president by a wide margin Sunday, exit polls showed, giving him a decisive mandate to renew peace talks with Israel, rein in militants and try to end more than four years of Mideast bloodshed.
The victory of the staid and pragmatic Abbas, who has spoken out against violence and has the backing of the international community, was expected to usher in a new era, after four decades of chaotic and corruption-riddled rule by Yasser Arafat who died Nov. 11.
“We, the Palestinians, are drawing our future with our own hands. We will be the symbol of democracy and freedom,” said Aya Abdel Kader, 45, a lawyer voting at a Gaza City school.
Abbas, popularly known as Abu Mazen, has promised to reform the Palestinian Authority, overhaul the unwieldy Palestinian security services and quickly resume negotiations with Israel, stalled for four years.
President Bush, who has said a resumption of peace talks must be accompanied by sweeping Palestinian reforms, called Abbas’ election “a historic day for the Palestinian people.”
“Palestinians throughout the West Bank and Gaza took a key step toward building a democratic future by choosing a new president in elections that observers describe as largely free and fair,” Bush said in a statement issued two hours after polls closed.
Abbas’ political objectives are the same as Arafat’s: a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, and a solution for Palestinian refugees and their descendants.
“There is a difficult mission ahead to build our state, to achieve security for our people … to give our prisoners freedom, our fugitives a life in dignity, to reach our goal of an independent state,” he said in an acceptance speech in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
After results of three exit polls were announced – giving Abbas up to 70 percent of the vote – his supporters celebrated in the streets. In the West Bank city of Hebron, motorists honked horns and waved Abbas posters. In Ramallah, gunmen fired in the air.
Abbas said he was dedicating his victory to the memory of Arafat, to the Palestinian people, to those killing in fighting with Israel and to thousands of Palestinians in Israeli prisoners.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expects to meet with Abbas soon, his aides said. Israeli officials said that in a gesture to Abbas, Israel plans to release some of the more than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners, provided Abbas stop militants from firing rockets at Israeli towns.
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