Mahmoud Abbas won election as Palestinian president with more than 60 per cent of the vote, officials said yestrday, strengthening his hand to end years of bloodshed and resume peace talks with Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who is expected to seek an early meeting with Mr Abbas once he takes office, said the real test would now be Palestinian "action on terror".
Mr Abbas won 62.3 per cent of the vote in Sunday's ballot in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem to find a successor to Yasser Arafat, the Central Electoral Commission said.
His victory margin was at the top end of expectations but with the Commission declining to give a final turnout figure, due to doubts over the accurate number of eligible voters, the real strength of Mr Abbas's mandate was difficult to gauge.
Mr Abbas has promised to seek peace with Israel, battle widespread corruption and revive the crumbling Palestinian Authority, reversing the legacy of four years of debilitating violence and Mr Arafat's chaotic rule.
But militants, including the Islamic movement Hamas, have defied Mr Abbas's demands to end armed struggle and boycotted the election. In addition, neither Palestinians nor Israelis have shown signs of compromise on fundamental issues behind decades of conflict.
"A moderate man was elected, an intelligent man, an experienced man," said Shimon Peres, veteran Israeli peacemaker and set to join Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's coalition.
"Let's give him a chance," Mr Peres told Army Radio, echoing peace hopes voiced by the United States and the European Union.
Israel has said it sees Mr Abbas as a man to do business with and has praised his calls for an end to violence in a four-year-old Palestinian uprising. But it has criticised his intention to co-opt rather than confront militants.
"The Palestinians are still not fighting terror and while (Abbas's) declarations in the framework of the election campaign were encouraging, he will be tested by the way he battles terror and acts to dismantle its infrastructure," Mr Sharon said.
Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat called on Israel to return to peace negotiations or risk strengthening militancy.
Mr Sharon was quoted by his office as telling visiting US Senator John Kerry, who lost the 2004 US presidential election to George W. Bush, as offering to resume security cooperation and coordinate aspects of a planned pullout from occupied Gaza.
But he said: "If terrorism continues until implementation of the disengagement plan, Israel's response will be stronger than ever."
In another significant shift in the Middle East equation, a new Israeli government led by Mr Sharon but with Mr Peres' centre-left Labour Party a main partner, was expected to take office later in the day.
It will restore Mr Sharon's parliamentary majority for the first time in six months and pursue the Gaza withdrawal opposed by hardliners, including rebels in his right-wing Likud party.
Former US President Jimmy Carter, who led an international monitoring team, said Mr Abbas won a "remarkably wonderful victory" opening the way for renewed peace negotiations.
"Victory is beautiful but it will be more beautiful to fulfil the pledges," said Mr Abbas, candidate of the dominant Fatah movement. He was expected to be sworn in tomorrow.
But many embittered Palestinian refugees who fled to neighbouring states during Arab-Israeli wars said Mr Abbas had let them down even before taking the oath of office.