Meager turnout in PA voter registration drive for Dec. ballot

Palestinians launched a voter registration drive Saturday, a first step toward long-overdue elections, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat promised that voting for parliament and president would take place this winter.

Arafat was one of the first of some 1.8 million eligible voters to register, presenting his passport at a polling station in his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Arafat, confined to the compound by Israel for more than two years, wrote his address, "Ersal Street, Muqata Building," in the voters' log.

However, Arafat was also one of the few. While more than 1,000 voter registration centers opened throughout the Palestinian territories, turnout was light on Saturday morning, in part because of voter apathy and a widespread belief that the elections will not bring real change.

The last Palestinian general elections were held in January 1996. In recent years, several tentative dates for elections were announced, but each deadline passed, with Arafat arguing that voting could not take place while Israel Defense Force soldiers were occupying West Bank towns and cities.

Arafat critics saw this, in part, as an excuse to avoid elections at a time when the Palestinian leader's popularity is sinking amid widespread frustration over official corruption and his government's handling of the conflict with Israel.

Legislator Hanan Ashrawi said Saturday that Arafat now appears committed to holding the elections. "We just need to work out the practical steps, including legislation," she said. "It is safe to say that the political will is there."

Ali Jarbawi, head of the Palestinian Election Commission, said the registration drive would take five weeks, with a possible extension of two weeks. Once registration is completed, the law requires a three-month waiting period before elections for parliament and president of the Palestinian Authority can be held.

It is up to Arafat to set the final date. Jarbawi said that everything is in place, and that elections could be held in the spring, once Arafat gave the word.

A first round of local elections will be held in 36 municipalities, including the town of Jericho, on Dec. 9. The remaining municipal elections will be held in three stages, ending Dec. 4, 2005.

Arafat said Saturday that general elections would be held "immediately" after the first round of municipal voting, but did not give a date.

Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said elections would remain democratic window dressing without real Palestinian government reform, including of the security services.

"If as a result of elections, especially the local ones, we are going to see new candidates, not Arafat's stooges, who will move in the direction of reform, maybe it is a small step in the right direction," he said.

The 1996 elections for parliament and president were held as a result of interim peace deals that set up the Palestinian Authority and led to an IDF withdrawal from two-thirds of Gaza and West Bank towns and cities.

At the time, Hamas boycotted the vote because of its opposition to the interim peace deals. However, the group - the most powerful political opposition to Arafat - said it is ready to compete in municipal elections.

Hamas has registered as an observer at the polling stations, a step that also leaves open the option of the group's participation in general elections.

Hamas, which provides many social services - often in place of the Palestinian Authority - is expected to do well in local elections.

Jarbawi said more than 1,000 registration centers opened Saturday across the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. The registration was preceded by a media campaign, including ads in newspapers and local TV and radio stations.

However, turnout was sparse Saturday morning.

Only a few voters trickled into east Jerusalem polling stations.

In Ramallah, 14 voters had registered by noon at the Jordan Elementary School. One of the first was Ghassan Abbas, who owns a grocery nearby.

"I decided to come because I feel that our nation is in need of a big change," he said. "Ministers and lawmakers and most of the Palestinian officials are very corrupt.

	Yasser Arafat smiling after attending a meeting at his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Thursday. (AP)