Fatah Party forecast to win most seats

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Amid tight security and a sea of green and yellow flags, Palestinians turned out in record numbers Wednesday for their first parliamentary election in a decade and exit polls projected that the ruling Fatah Party would win the most seats, but showed that Islamic militants made a strong showing.

Voter turnout in the historic balloting was 77.7 percent of 1.3 million eligible voters, the Central Election Commission said. In the 1996 parliamentary election, turnout was about 75 percent.

One exit poll said the ruling Fatah Party captured 42 percent of the vote and the Islamic militant group Hamas finished a strong second, with 35 percent. The poll was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Public Opinion.

Another exit poll by Bir Zeit University showed Fatah with 46.4 percent of the vote, with Hamas winning 39.5 percent.

This would translate into 63 seats for Fatah and 58 for Hamas in the 132-seat Palestinian legislature, pollsters said. A total of 8,000 voters in 232 polling stations were surveyed for the exit poll, which had a one-seat margin of error.

Long lines formed across the West Bank and Gaza as Palestinians -- given a real choice for the first time -- eagerly cast their ballots for the 132 parliament seats up for grabs.

Polls closed at 7 p.m. (11 a.m. CST). Under a compromise with Israel, some Arabs in east Jerusalem were allowed to cast absentee ballots at post offices in the disputed city, and voting was extended there by two hours because postal workers were slow.

Early celebrations

After the polls closed, Fatah supporters across Gaza and the West Bank began honking car horns, shooting in the air and setting off fireworks in celebration.

Election officials began counting the votes soon after polls closed and preliminary results were expected today. Routine power cuts in the Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis forced election workers to count ballots by candlelight.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said he is ready to resume peace talks with Israel, even if Hamas joins his government after the vote.

"We are ready to negotiate," Abbas told Israeli reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "We are partners with the Israelis. They don't have the right to choose their partner. But if they are seeking a Palestinian partner, this partner exists."

Even it doesn't win outright, Hamas is widely expected to make a strong showing that would place the Islamists -- responsible for dozens of suicide bombings against Israel -- squarely inside the Palestinian political system for the first time.

Hamas' success has alarmed Israel and the West, although Abbas has argued that bringing them into the system will tame them, enabling peace moves to go forward. In an apparent sign of pragmatism, Hamas has not carried out a suicide attacks since a cease-fire was declared a year ago.

But its top parliamentary candidate, Ismail Haniyeh, said Hamas had no intention of laying down its arms after the elections as Abbas has 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.

Terrorist organization

The Bush administration lists Hamas as a terrorist organization and also refuses to deal directly with it. But State Department spokesman Sean McCormack on Tuesday refused to rule out negotiations with a Palestinian government that includes Hamas ministers.

Abbas, elected a year ago, will still head the Palestinian Authority regardless of Wednesday's results, but the voting will usher in a new Cabinet that could include Hamas members. Israel says it will not deal with Hamas until it disarms.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan called it "a historic and significant day for the Palestinian people."

The day had a festive feel, and few disruptions were reported, despite initial concern about possible violence. In the West Bank refugee camp of Balata, gunmen who had threatened to derail voting checked their automatic rifles at the door before casting their votes.

Emotions ran high in the disputed city of Jerusalem, where right-wing Israeli lawmakers and extremists tried to force their way into a Palestinian polling station, with 75 policemen blocking their way. And in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, police fired into the air to push back a crowd of impatient voters jostling their way into a polling station.

Fatah, tainted by corruption after 12 years in power, was asking voters for another chance to pursue an elusive peace deal with Israel. Hamas has focused on clean government, and criticized Fatah's attempt at compromise with Israel as a sign of weakness.

Activists from both parties were out in full force, handing out lists of candidates' names, baseball hats and scarves. But the Hamas effort appeared more organized than Fatah's.

"These elections will determine the fate of the Palestinian people," said Mohammed Shaabein, a 71-year-old retiree in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya.

The Beach refugee camp near Gaza City was decorated in a sea of flags -- green for Hamas, yellow for Fatah -- and the excitement in the air was palpable.

Outside a polling station at a boys' school in the camp, Fatah supporters wore the party's black-and-white checkered scarves decorated with Palestinian flags.

Hamas activists sported green baseball hats, and many of the Hamas women wore full veils and gloves, once a rare sight in Gaza and a sign of the growing influence of fundamentalist Islam in the impoverished coastal strip.

"We've reached the worst. The most important thing now is change," said Raed Abu Hamam, a 35-year-old construction worker in the Beach camp who said he is voting for Hamas.

Some 13,500 police officers deployed at 1,008 polling stations, taking up positions on rooftops and at entrances to enforce a weapons ban.

Nearly 20,000 local observers and 950 international monitors, led by former President Carter, watched the vote.

Francis Wurtz, an observer from the European Parliament, said he had witnessed no irregularities.

"The organization is very correct everywhere," he said.

There were some allegations of fraud in the 1996 parliamentary election and the 2005 presidential election that brought Abbas to power, but international monitors said at the time the problems were not widespread.

Abbas, who voted in Ramallah, said elections were proceeding smoothly but complained of Israeli travel restrictions on roads. Israel said it was easing checkpoints on voting day.

"We are so happy with this election festival," Abbas said, after dipping his index finger in ink to prevent double voting.

Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri, seeking a seat in Beit Lahiya, said he expects the group to win the biggest bloc in parliament.

Even then, Hamas has said it doesn't want to rule alone. "We did not come to replace anyone or squeeze out anyone. We came to start a new phase in political partnership and unity," al-Masri said.

Under Palestinian law, the largest party would be asked to form a government.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said Fatah is ready to "stand behind" Hamas if the Islamic movement wins.

The election marked the first time Palestinians have a clear choice between two political camps since Hamas boycotted the 1996 vote.

Hamas is expected to ask for service ministries -- health, education and welfare -- and to leave diplomacy, including contacts with Israel, to others. Hamas, which has long ruled out negotiations with Israel, has signaled some flexibility on the issue in recent days.

Fatah leaders also predicted they will get more than half the parliament seats. But if forced to form a coalition, Fatah prefers to govern with smaller parties and would invite Hamas only if left with no other choice.

Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he hoped Palestinians would not "choose again the extremists who have led them from tragedy to tragedy and to sorrowful lives."