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Barghouti complains of election irregularities

* Claims ‘indelible’ ink used at polling stations easily washed off

RAMALLAH: Mustafa Barghouti, the main rival to Mahmoud Abbas in Sunday’s Palestinian elections claimed that voting irregularities had taken place.

He said that the ink used in some polling stations to mark voters’ thumbnails could be removed.

“Two gross violations have been committed during the electoral process,” Barghouti told reporters before casting his ballot at a school in Ramallah.

A statement issued by his campaign team said that the indelible ink used to ensure that voters cast their ballot only once could be easily washed off. It added that certain polling stations in the Gaza Strip and three in the West Bank had been affected, shedding doubts on the prospect of transparent and fair elections.

“I am demanding that the CEC (central elections commission) investigate these violations,” said Barghouti who is around 30 points adrift Abbas in most opinion polls.

An AFP reporter who voted in east Jerusalem tried to remove the ink tag with soap, alcohol, acetone and finally with a chemical product provided by a pharmacist and meant to remove any type of ink, but to no avail.

Earlier in Gaza City, Palestinian security forces accused Israel of holding up voting by closing two checkpoints and open firing on a polling station in southern Gaza. They said that Israeli troops had opened fire towards a polling station in Khuzaa, east of Khan Yunis.

The al-Mawasi enclave checkpoint inside a bloc of Jewish settlements was closed for several hours before soldiers were seen allowing men through in groups of five.

Women and international election observers were still waiting to pass through, witnesses and Palestinian security sources said.

Another checkpoint at Abu Gholi to the north was closed for an hour, Palestinian security sources said. Police were mobilised en masse for the 12-hour voting period, starting at 7:00am, and security forces in the Gaza Strip were put on high alert, a senior officer said.

Israel ready to meet new Palestinian president: Israel announced on Sunday that it was ready to meet the winner of the Palestinian election, which the Israeli press hailed as the start of a new era and a boost to peace hopes. “The prime minister intends to meet the elected Palestinian president as soon possible,” a senior adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was quoted as saying. afp

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