Monday, January 10 2005 10:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Ramallah, West Bank: PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organisation) chairman Mahmud Abbas vowed to end the suffering of the Palestinian people after his landslide victory in the Presidential election, which he dedicated to the late Yasser Arafat.

As exit polls showed that Abbas had won some two-thirds of the votes cast, gunmen from his Fatah party were seen driving around the streets of the West Bank town of Ramallah firing in the air to celebrate his triumph.

"We dedicate this victory to the memory of our martyred leader Yasser Arafat, as well as all the other martyrs, those who have been wounded as well the 11,000 prisoners behind bars" in Israeli jails, an ecstatic Abbas told hundreds of his supporters.

"I will work to put an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people for they are a people who deserve our esteem, our respect and our loyalty."

The final result was not yet announced, but Abbas' victory had never really been in any doubt, and Israel said that his biggest challenges now lay ahead if he wanted to become a partner in the peace process.

Voting was extended for two hours after the central elections commission said that Israeli restrictions in the occupied territories had hampered access to polling booths.

But monitors said that there had been no major problems with what was the second ever Presidential election in Ramallah and that there were no reports of violence.

Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei said that the election underlined the Palestinian people's commitment to the path of peace and democracy.

"Today we have sent a crystal clear message to the world, to our people and to the region," said Qorei, who Abbas intends to reappoint as Premier.

"We, the Palestinian people, have shown that our choice is for peace and democracy," he added.

The conduct of the ballot even won praise from Israel, which noted that it was a rare example of democracy in action in the region.

"I think to the best of my understanding and knowledge it's a democratic process and this in itself is enormously important because it's the only democratic process in the Arab world," said Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Abbas' nearest rival Mustafa Barghuti, who was projected to have won around 19 per cent of votes, took a less positive view of the proceedings, charging that there had been blatant irregularities and that the supposedly indelible ink marked on the thumbnails of voters could be washed off with water.

Abbas's main fear had been that vast swathes of the electorate would heed a boycott call by the radical Islamist movement Hamas.

The elections commission said that around 70 per cent of the 1.28 million registered voters cast their ballots. But only around 10 per cent of the other 7,00,000 Palestinians who were not on the register but who could still vote by presenting their identity card did so. That would leave the overall turnout among people eligible to vote below 50 per cent.