PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas declared victory in Sunday election for Palestinian Authority chairman and dedicated his victory to late Yasser Arafat. "We dedicate this victory to the soul of the brother, martyr Yasser Arafat and to all Palestinians," Abbas told a jubilant rally of his Fatah party in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
"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 to hundreds of cheering supporters.
U.S. President George W. Bush said said in response that the Palestinian election marked an essential step toward the goal of statehood and promised to help the new president in a renewed push for peace talks with Israel.
"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 obtained 62.32 percent of votes cast, ahead of his nearest rival Mustafa Barghuti who won 19.8 percent, the figures by the central elections commission said Monday.
Abbas received 483,039 votes, while 153,516 people voted for Barghuti, who stood as an independent, AFP reported. Tayssir Khaled, standing for the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) won 3.5 percent of the votes, People's Party candidate Bassam Salhi 2.69 percent, independent candidate Abdelhalim Al-Ashqar 2.68 percent, Sayyed Barakah (independent Islamist) 1.27 percent and Abdelkarim Shubeir (independent) 0.67 percent.
Abbas is set to be sworn in as head of the Palestinian Authority at a session of parliament on Wednesday.
