Thousands of Palestinian security forces were to take up positions to ensure the long-awaited electoral battle between the ruling Fatah party and the Islamists of Hamas passes off smoothly.
The Palestinian Authority leadership, aware that a chaotic election will damage the case for statehood, has repeatedly appealed for all parties to respect the democratic process and the result which is likely to have a profound impact on the future of the Middle East peace process.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has issued orders for the security forces to confront anyone who tries to disrupt the vote with an ‘iron fist’.
‘I hope the elections on Wednesday will proceed calmly and that the democratic process and the results are respected,’ he said after meeting with one of a number of teams of international observers.
Security sources said 25 armed police would be posted inside each one of the nearly 1,000 polling stations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with members of other security services stationed outside the booths. The ballot boxes are due to be delivered on Tuesday afternoon.
‘We will start our high-alert status from early Tuesday morning and we will deploy 13,000 police and security men inside and around election centres in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,’ Palestinian interior ministry spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khussa told AFP.
‘If anyone tries to attack the vote operation we will strike and we will prevent any gunmen from trying to enter these centres. Police and security men will sleep inside the centres tomorrow (Tuesday) night.’
Israel has also agreed to restrict its operations in the occupied West Bank until Thursday night, giving permission for Palestinian security forces to operate in areas normally under its control.
A series of attacks on government buildings and election commission offices in Gaza earlier this month had stoked fears that the polling would either be plagued by violence or even called off.
However leaders of the main militant factions have now ordered all their followers not to interfere with voting.
Former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt, who oversaw last January's successful presidential election, predicted that voting would be peaceful.
‘I would expect that these elections will be even better than the presidential elections,’ he told AFP.
‘What is important is the credibility of these elections and that all parties will accept the results, whatever they are.’
The last polls forecast a narrow win for Fatah, the faction which has dominated Palestinian politics for decades, despite a late surge by Hamas which is contesting its first parliamentary election after boycotting the only other contest a decade ago.
Fatah campaign manager Nabil Shaath expressed confidence the faction would win a ‘big majority’ and would be able to make progress in the peace process provided right-wingers do not triumph at an Israeli general election in March.
Hamas has been seeking to cash in on voter disillusionment with Fatah over the stalled state of the peace process, the widespread corruption within the Palestinian Authority and by claiming that its fighters forced Israel to pull out of the Gaza Strip last summer.
A Hamas victory or strong enough showing to demand a seat in government would present a major stumbling block to the peace process with Israel warning that it will refuse to do business with a government that includes a faction which does not recognise the Jewish state's right to exist.
Mahmud Zahar, Hamas' leader in the Gaza Strip, told a final press conference on Monday that it would not be ‘illicit’ to hold negotiations with Israel after the movement's entry into parliament.
‘Negotiations are not illicit. However to sit down with Israel (at the negotiating table) and smile and falsely claim to be making progress when it's not the case would represent a political crime and we are not going to deceive the Palestinian people,’ he said.
Zahar, a near certainty to be elected on Wednesday, stressed that ‘our entry into the political arena in no way signifies that we are renouncing our right to resistance.’