Palestine: Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem will tomorrow vote in their second national election. Palestinians over the age of 18 who do not have Israeli citizenship may vote.
Out of a total population of four million there are 1,757,756 eligible voters who will cast their ballots in 3,400 polling stations located in 11 electoral districts in the West Bank and Jerusalem and five in the Gaza Strip. Women constitute 46 per cent of registered voters. Seventy special polling stations have been opened in the West Bank to accommodate the 600,000 unregistered but eligible voters. Of the 120,000 potential voters in Jerusalem, only 5,367 will be permitted by Israel to vote in the city, and the rest must travel to a dozen voting centres outside its limits.
Ballots were printed in Spain and 2,800 semi-transparent ballot boxes were imported from Denmark to ensure against fraud.
Counting will take place at polling stations.
More than 21,000 local observers and 800 foreign monitors will be present at the polling stations to ensure that the elections will be free and fair. The foreign observers will be on hand, in particular, in Jerusalem and the West Bank town of Hebron, to ensure that Palestinians will not be harmed by Israeli settlers during the voting. Among the foreigners taking part are the former US president, Mr Jimmy Carter, the former French premier, Mr Michel Rocard (who heads the European Union observers), the former Swedish prime minister, Mr Carl Bildt, two US senators, Mr Joseph Biden and Mr John Sununu, and top European diplomat, Mr Javier Solana. Thirty European parliamentarians from a dozen countries are acting as observers, including Mr Proinsias de Rossa of Ireland and former MEP Mr Niall Andrews. There are 64 other international delegations of monitors and a multitude of non-governmental organisations accredited by the Central Election Commission.
With the exception of a few incidents of attempted intimi- dation, the campaign has gone smoothly.
The main problem is that the election is taking place under occupation.
The Israelis have pledged to pull their troops back from Palestinian population centres for 72 hours before, during and after the election and have promised to facilitate Palestinian passage through checkpoints.
Observers will check to make certain they honour this promise.
Campaigning began on December 25th and ended yesterday, 24 hours before polling. Although the front-runner, Mr Mahmud Abbas, is expected to win by a wide margin, three of his five serious rivals have contested the election vigorously.
The US film actor Richard Gere has appeared in a television advert, along with an Islamic cleric and a Greek Orthodox church official, to call upon Palestinians to vote.
THE CANDIDATES:
Mahmoud Abbas - Fatah
Polling 65 per cent: A deputy to Arafat, he became head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) after the leader's death. US-favoured Abbas (69) opposes armed struggle, wants to revive talks with Israel and is unlikely to deviate from Arafat's stance.
Mustafa Barghouthi - Independent
Polling 22 per cent: A human rights activist and campaigner for non-violence who was ejected from the communist People's Party of Palestine in 2002. The 50-year-old doctor was involved in peace talks early in the 1990s but left in protest before interim accords with Israel in 1993.
Abdel-Halim al-Ashkar - Independent
Polling 2 per cent: US-based professor who was arrested last year and accused of funnelling money to Hamas Islamic militants. Ashkar (46) has been awaiting trial under house arrest.
Taiseer Khaled - DFLP
Polling 1.5 per cent: Founder member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He is also a member of the PLO's executive committee. Khaled (69) was detained by Israel for several months in 2003.
Sayyed Hussein Barakeh - Independent
Polling below 1 per cent: An Islamist academic who was deported to Lebanon by Israel in 1989, accused of being an Islamic Jihad leader. He returned in 1998. Barakeh (48) resigned from the youth and sport ministry to contest the election.
Bassam al-Salhi - PPP
Polling below 1 per cent: The communist People's Party of Palestine was the first group within the PLO to support the idea of a state alongside Israel. Salhi (44) favours civil resistance rather than armed struggle.
Abdel-Kareem Shbair - Independent
Polling below 1 per cent: A lawyer and academic (54) from the Gaza Strip who focuses on the right of return to homes in Israel for Palestinian refugees.
Source for polls: Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. Margin of error: 3 per cent