The victory of Mr Mahmoud Abbas in Palestinian elections raised hopes today for reviving talks with Israel after the relative moderate won a landslide in the vote to succeed Yasser Arafat.
Mr Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, claimed victory last night after exit poll results. He dedicated his victory to Mr Arafat.
Hamas spokesman
Final election results today showed Mr Abbas won 62.3 per cent
of the vote. Turnout was reported to have been at least 66 per cent.
The closest of six other candidates was pro-democracy activist Mr Mustafa Barghouthi with about 20 per cent of the vote.
Mr Abbas is due to be sworn in on Wednesday.
The Palestinian opposition militant group Hamas said this morning it would work with the new Palestinian Authority president despite misgivings about what it said were voting irregularities.
The Islamic militant group boycotted yesterday's vote and urged supporters to stay away, but it did not try to disrupt the election. A Hamas spokesman said today: "We are going to deal with the elected president despite our boycott of this election."
Even before the vote, Mr Abbas was meeting with leaders of rival Palestinian factions to persuade them to halt attacks on Israel and reach a power-sharing agreement.
Most militants signalled they are willing to halt attacks, but negotiations on sharing power, including Hamas representation in the PLO, failed.
Hamas complained about what it said were voting irregularities, including a decision by the Central Election Commission to extend voting by two hours and allow non-registered voters to participate. One election official said the changes were made under heavy pressure from Mr Abbas's ruling Fatah movement, which feared a low turnout would hurt their candidate.
Mr Abbas had promised to seek peace with Israel, but also to battle widespread corruption and revive the crumbling Palestinian Authority, the legacy of four years of debilitating violence and Mr Arafat's chaotic rule.
But any optimism for a new era of diplomacy could still be vulnerable to militants defying Mr Abbas's calls to end armed struggle, and neither Palestinians nor Israelis show room for compromise on fundamental issues behind decades of conflict.
"Victory is beautiful but it will be more beautiful to fulfil the pledges," said Mr Abbas. "The smallest jihad [holy struggle] is over and the biggest jihad is ahead."
International monitors said the ballot appeared to have been fair despite some Israeli restrictions on movement.
"A moderate man was elected, an intelligent man, an experienced man. Let's give him a chance," Mr Shimon Peres told Israel army radio, echoing hopes for peace 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 4-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.