Sunday, January 9 2005 20:42 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Ramallah: Palestinians today (Jan 9, 2005) voted peacefully to choose a successor to Yasser Arafat, with interim leader Mahmoud Abbas tipped to win even as militant factions called to boycott the elections.

Between 25 and 30 per cent turnout has been reported in the first five hours of voting. Around 1.8 million Palestinians aged over 18 are entitled to cast the ballot.

Leader of the Indian observer team, A N Jha, Deputy Election Commissioner, told reporters, "The whole process looks to have been very well managed and the turnout seems to have gone up during the latter half of the day. Everything is being conducted in a transparent manner and hopefully it will work out well in the interest of the Palestinian masses.

The turnout in the East Jerusalem area, near Abu Dis seemed to be low in the morning with supporters of mainly Mahmoud Abbas and Mustafa Barghouti making an attempt to bring voters to the polling station.

A presiding officer, Nabil Adwin, at a polling station in East Jerusalem when asked about problems in the process told reporters, "the problem is only occupation. The wall is the main problem. Otherwise you can see that we can smoothly run our business on our own".

The calls of militant factions, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, do not seem to have made much of an impact with most of the polling stations showing reasonable turnout.

"The elections are going very well and this proves that the Palestinian people are moving towards democracy," Abbas said after casting his ballot in the Muqata headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, under a portrait of Arafat.

"There are obstacles, but the determination of the people is stronger. We heard that there is a high turnout, especially by women, and this is a very good thing," Abbas said.

Abbas' Fatah faction has been busy bringing the people to vote as it believes that the legitimacy of the whole process will be largely determined by the polling percentage.

The elections have generated immense interest around the world with 800 international observers, including four from India in the region to oversee the process.

Former US President Jimmy Carter, one of the prominent observers, appeared contented with Israeli security arrangement for the polls.

"There is no [Israeli] intimidation I have seen," Carter told reporters after visiting checkpoints near Jerusalem.

A Japanese observer, Aiba Kazuhiko, also expressed satisfaction at the "transparent way the whole process was being conducted".

Meanwhile, Israel expressed hopes that the new Palestinian leadership will crack down on the terror infrastructure after the polls.

"Israel hopes the elections do not hit any snags, so that starting from tomorrow, the new Palestinian leadership will be able to do what it is required to do," Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told Israel Radio.

"I think that the leader, who is elected, will have to wage a genuine struggle against terror immediately and carry out reforms [in the PA]," he added.

Government sources said on conditions of anonymity that preparations were underway to set a meeting between the Palestinian Chairman-elect and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to kick-start the peace process.

Jerusalem is also likely to extend several concessions as goodwill gesture towards Abbas, whose victory it sees as a certainty, to strengthen his position.

One of the main concessions is likely to be the release of large number of Palestinian prisoners, a promise that Abbas has made to the Palestinians to carry out any peace negotiation with Israel.

The Palestinian election has employed women in large numbers to manage the electoral process, who have been explaining the voters what to do with the ballot papers that have symbols of only five candidates who represent various factions.