A senior source with one of the groups conducting exit polls outside Palestinian polling stations Wednesday said that the ruling Fatah looked set to win 40 percent of the vote, and Hamas about 30 percent.
The poll was roughly in line with surveys ahead of the first parliamentary election in a decade.
Pollsters had cautioned that there would be a large margin of error in their projections, particularly because of the complicated Palestinian election system, under which some seats are chosen from party lists and some on a district basis.
A strong showing by Hamas in the election raised the possibility that the Islamic militant group, which is sworn to Israel's destruction but has made conciliatory remarks in recent weeks, would join the Palestinian government for the first time.
Polling stations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank closed their doors at 7 P.M., but voters who were inside continued to cast ballots.
Palestinians flocked to polling stations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Wednesday, as the ruling Fatah went head-to-head for the first time in parliamentary elections.
Voting in Ramallah, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said he is ready to resume peace talks with Israel, even if Hamas joins his government after the legislative vote.
‘We are ready to negotiate,’ Abbas told Israeli reporters who were in the West Bank city to cover the election.
‘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,’ he said.
Hamas was expected to make a strong showing Wednesday, raising the possibility of it joining Abbas' Cabinet. Israel refuses to deal with the group until it disarms, something it rules out.
Earlier, Abbas praised his people for overcoming great obstacles to carry out the vote. ‘We are so happy with this election festival,’ Abbas said after voting Ramallah. ‘So far, it's going very well and we hope it will keep going well until the end without any troubles.’
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said Wednesday that the ruling Fatah party is ready to ‘stand behind’ Hamas if the militant organization wins the parliamentary vote.
‘I hope that the minority will accept the decisions of the majority,’ Qureia said after voting in the Jerusalem suburb of Abu Dis. ‘If Hamas wins, they will win and we will stand behind them. This is democracy and we accept the results of the elections.’
Initial results expected shortly after 7 P.M.
Polls opened at 7 A.M. Wednesday in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, as 1.3 million Palestinians prepared to vote in the first parliamentary elections in a decade.
The voting is set to continue until 7 P.M. Voter turnout stood at 40 percent by early afternoon, according to the Palestinian central elections committee. Initial results are expected shortly after the close of polling.
Some 13,000 police officers deployed at 1,008 polling stations, taking up positions on rooftops and at entrances to enforce a weapons ban.
‘We do not expect violence but we have been instructed to use force against anyone who tries to disrupt the election process,’ Palestinian policeman Ibrahim Mahmoud said in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Pollsters predicted a turnout of at least 75 percent, but rain forecast for Wednesday could give Hamas, with its ideologically more committed electorate, an edge.
Shortly after polls opened, Palestinian security forces confiscated candidate lists given to voters outside polling stations in a Gaza Strip refugee camp.
The lists were distributed by both Fatah and Hamas to tell voters which candidates to choose. Authorities confiscated the lists as people entered the voting stations, and gave them back after people cast ballots.
The lists were considered a violation of a ban on campaigning that went into effect Tuesday.
Voters are choosing among 11 party lists and more than 400 candidates running locally in the first parliamentary elections since 1996. About 900 foreign observers, led by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, have been deployed to monitor the process.
All of the Palestinian factions, with the sole exception of Islamic Jihad, are running in the elections. Abbas on Tuesday urged Palestinians to go out and vote en masse in order to ‘elect a new and suitable leadership.’
Commenting on the elections, Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in his Herzliya Conference address on Tuesday night that Israel favors the creation of a ‘modern Palestinian state.’ He expressed the hope that the Palestinians would not ‘again choose the extremists who have led them from tragedy to tragedy and to sorrowful lives.’
In response to Olmert's speech, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said: ‘He knows that he has a [negotiating] partner, and I urge him to abandon the path of unilateralism and reach the end game with us. That is what most Israelis really want.’