PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS: ELECTION DAY

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 000347

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE, NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/MUSTAFA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV PBTS ASEC KDEM KPAL KWBG IS
SUBJECT: PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS: ELECTION DAY
SITREP # 4 AS OF 6:00 PM, JANUARY 25, 2006

REF: A. JERUSALEM 345

B. JERUSALEM 340

C. JERUSALEM 338

D. JERUSALEM 00324

Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, per reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

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Summary
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1. (C) As of 6:00 pm local time, Palestinian Legislative
Council (PLC) elections continued to go smoothly with only
sporadic reports of violence. The Central Elections
Commission reported voter turnout at 64.7 percent with
810,000 voting in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Slow lines
at East Jerusalem Post Offices may be contributing to many
going to polling stations outside of the Jerusalem
municipality boundaries to vote. There were several reports
of altercations between Hamas and Fatah/al-Aqsa supporters in
Hebron and the Gaza Strip. Because of unconfirmed reports of
a grenade attack at one polling station and a shooting in
Gaza City, NDI decided to pull its observers out of Gaza.
The NDI Command Post described the atmosphere in Gaza as
growing more tense than in the West Bank. Media outlets
continued their continuous coverage of the elections. End
summary.

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64.7 percent Voter
Turnout, as of 6:00 pm
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2. (C) At 6:00 pm, the Central Elections Commission (CEC)
reported voter turnout at 64.7 percent with 810,000
Palestinians having already voted in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip. The CEC has decided to extend the hours of the
polling stations until 9 pm. Requests have also been made to
the GOI to allow voting to continue until 9 pm in Jerusalem.

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Steady Voting Continues in Jerusalem
But Many Likely Going Outside
Because of Long Lines
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3. (C) Israeli police representatives in the joint police
command post reported to the RSO at 5 pm that 2,200 eligible
voters had turned out in Jerusalem. Voting was steady at the
Salah Ed-din Post Office polling station in East Jerusalem
with seven windows open and more than 1400 of 3550 eligible
voters having already cast their ballots. Inside the post
office when Senator Biden and Consul General observed the
voting at 2:00 pm, the atmosphere was calm, with 30 to 35
people in line waiting to vote. The Post Office's security
removed one Fatah supporter allegedly trying to tell those in
line how to vote, but otherwise Israeli police were not
interfering in the process. A small group of 10-15 people
were protesting outside the Salah Ed-din Post Office,
carrying signs and chanting against the occupation. Fatah
supporters were also chanting pro-Fatah slogans. A solitary
heckler criticized U.S. policy in Guantanamo Bay and Abu
Gharib. In a conversation with PolOff, Mahdi Abdul Hadi, the
head of Palestinian NGO Passia, criticized the voting
procedures in East Jerusalem as lacking privacy, stating that
the postal workers could see who the voters were selecting.


4. (C) Voting was somewhat lighter at the Jaffa Gate Post
Office in the Old City of Jerusalem, with only 114 of 550
eligible voters having turning out by late afternoon. By
4:15 pm, only observers were at this polling station. At the
a-Tur Post Office, 220 out of 550 eligible voters had voted
by 4:40 pm. PolOff described that polling station as very
quiet though the line was moving slowly with only 24 voting
each hour. Given the wait time of more than an hour, many
voters had decided to vote outside of the municipal
boundaries.


5. (C) PolOff reported from the Sur Baher Post Office in
southern Jerusalem that well over 300 of the 550 voters
eligible to vote there had voted by 5:50 pm, but there, too,
he noted that there was a long wait time, so many also could
have gone to vote outside of Jerusalem. He commented that
Hamas was extremely well-organized in that area and that the
Hamas representatives outside of the polling station had a
list of Hamas supporters and knew who to expect at the voting
station, thereby illustrating the level of commitment of
Hamas and their supporters.

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Longer Lines in Gaza; Atmosphere
Growing More Tense There
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6. (C) The NDI command center, according to the ConOff
stationed there, is receiving reports of longer voting lines
at polling stations in Gaza than in the West Bank and that
the Palestinian police are containing those lines. NDI also
commented that there was a higher degree of "assisted voting"
in Gaza, than in the West Bank. In general, NDI was
reporting that since 2 pm, local time, the atmosphere in Gaza
is growing more tense, especially from a security perspective.

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Sporadic Reports of Violence
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7. (C) Sporadic reports of violence throughout the West Bank
and Gaza have been reported. PD FSNs reported that
Arabic-language radio station 98.1 broadcasted a report that
a PA security officer was beaten by unidentified individuals
outside a polling place in Beit Awua, near Hebron. Fist
fights also broke out between Fatah and Hamas supporters
inside one Hebron-area polling station in Shyookh, between
Hamas and al-Aqsa supporters in Safftay, northern Gaza, and
in Bani Suheila, near Khan Younis in Gaza. The RSO also
received an unconfirmed report of gunshots near a hospital
located in the center of Ramallah. (Note: He also received
reports that IDF vehicles were stoned in Rafat, north of
Ramallah, but noted that this was likely unrelated to the
elections. End note.)


8. (C) Still-unconfirmed reports of the grenade attack at a
Gaza City polling station and a shooting in Beit Hanoun
(reftel A) led NDI, according to the ConOff at NDI's command
center, to pull its election observers from polling stations
in Gaza to reassess their safety.


9. (C) NDI received reports from Canadian observers at the
Tariq Bin Ziyad School polling station in Hebron that there
was a small riot there that caused the site director to shut
the door and lock the two Canadian observers inside. The
station was reopened 20 minutes later, according to RSO
sources.

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Mustafa Barghouthi predicting
third place for his list
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10. (C) ConGenOff observers in Beitunia, next to Ramallah,
met "Independent Palestine" List leader Mustafa Barghouthi,
who told them, "This is a great day. When did you see
anything like this in the Arab world?" Barghouthi added that
he expected to come in third place, behind Fatah and Hamas.
Polling stations workers in the Ramallah area told Econ FSN
that Barghouthi was visiting a number of polling stations in
the Ramallah area and shaking hands with voters.

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Voter Participation Cuts
Across Socio-economic Levels
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11. (C) ConGenOff observers in Ramallah described a carnival
atmosphere in the streets there, with a broad cross-section
of the population at the twelve polling stations they visited
in Ramallah. They reported seeing a modernly-attired mother
with a falafel-juggling tot in tow, silk-scarf wearing
businessmen, younger women in the hijab grandmothers in
traditional embroidery dresses, laborers with their callused
hands bringing in their younger sons to assist them in
voting, and an older gentleman sporting the practical
combination of an Eddie Bauer windbreaker and a caffia.
Elsewhere in Ramallah, Hamas supporters were seen driving a
jaunty yellow bulldozer festooned with a large poster of
Sheikh Yassin and a startlingly large number of green Hamas
flags.


12. (C) One voter in Hizma, a poorer village sandwiched
between Jerusalem and Ramallah, described election day "like
a wedding." The independent candidate for one of the
Jerusalem seats, Rajeh Abu Asab, made a dramatic entrance at
the Hizma polling station when he drove up in his H3 Hummer,
drawing an excited crowd of little boys, off from school for
the day because of the elections.

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Media Coverage
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13. (SBU) Al-Jazeera, which has correspondents in Jerusalem,
Ramallah, Bethlehem/Beit Sahour, Hebron, and Gaza/Khan
Younis, reported that clashes between Fatah and Hamas
supporters erupted at a polling station in northern Hebron.
The conflict began when several voters tried to take photos
inside voting booths. Twelve people were reportedly injured,
however, Palestinian security forces were said to have
controlled the situation and restored calm at the station.
Al-Jazeera also carried a comment by the election commission
chairman, Hanna Nasser, who said that the elections were
running smoothly and that no major problems had been
reported. Nasser said he expected the number of voters
casting ballots to be high.


14. (SBU) Meanwhile, al-Arabiya quoted Muhammad Dahlan as
saying, "Fatah will respect the Palestinian people's decision
regardless of the elections' results." Al-Arabiya also
featured a report from Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon,
where Palestinian refugees expressed regret that they could
not vote in the elections. The official PA station, PBC,
carried live coverage from Jericho and Gaza, where voting was
said to be running smoothly, with no disruptions. Al Hurra
and Nile News continued to cover the Palestinian elections
with no unusual reports.
WALLES