GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - The Palestinians' ruling Fatah Party halted its primary election across the Gaza Strip on Monday after angry gunmen shot in the air at several polling stations, stole some ballot boxes and destroyed others. Fatah officials said the votes cast Monday would be nullified, and the primary would have to be rescheduled. The election violence highlighted the ongoing lawlessness in Gaza's streets.
"The Fatah General Committee held an urgent meeting in Gaza this afternoon to evaluate the primary elections and the committee decided to freeze the election due to the serious violations that took place during the voting process today," the statement said.
The Gaza primaries were expected to continue the trend started during earlier elections in several West Bank districts that swept away many entrenched old-timers, who controlled the party for decades and were seen as corrupt, and replaced them with young politicians more popular with average Palestinians.
The housecleaning in Fatah is crucial to the party's hope of beating back a strong showing by the Islamic militant group Hamas, which has wooed Palestinians in part with its image as an honest group that will not tolerate corruption and graft.
But the violence and disorder threatened the whole process. Parliamentary elections are set for Jan. 25, and Fatah spokesman Deab Allouh said new lists of candidates would have to be presented by Dec. 3.
After the primary, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas would review the results and pick the candidates.
However, it was unclear how officials could ensure that a new round of voting would be any smoother than Monday's.
Before the dramatic cancellation, Mohammed Dahlan, a Gaza strongman and top Palestinian official seen as a bridge between the two generations in Fatah, was greeted by scores of chanting supporters as he voted in a sports club in the Khan Younis refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, where he is a candidate.
"The election has brought a clear and obvious answer that the leadership has to be changed," said Dahlan, who grew up in the camp. "We need an internal, positive revolution within Fatah that can guarantee the dignity of our old-timers—our leaders—and the continuation of Fatah."
Even before the new problems emerged, scheduled votes in Rafah and areas of central Gaza were postponed until Wednesday because of technical hitches, Fatah officials said.
In one station in eastern Khan Younis, about 15 armed gunmen came to vote. When they did not find their names on the registration list, they fired in the air, witnesses said.
Officials closed the polling station for about 45 minutes after the incident.
A similar incident in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun also forced the closing of a polling station there, officials said.
Several voters at the Khan Younis sports center welcomed the primary for giving a voice to grass-roots party members and a chance to younger candidates.
"We want new blood in Fatah's body. We want to say that Fatah is able to lead and to bring us our rights," said Majdi Abu Daka, a 34-year- old engineer. "We respect the old generation, but it's time to give us a chance. The world is changing and so are we."
Many veteran Fatah leaders lived in exile for decades before moving to the West Bank and Gaza in the 1990s after interim peace accords with Israel, and they secured powerful positions with the Palestinian Authority.
Members of the "young guard" spent their lives in the Palestinian territories, gaining experience as leaders of the first uprising in the 1980s and spending significant time in Israeli jails, giving them credibility with younger Palestinians.
The biggest winner in the primaries held last week was Marwan Barghouti, a charismatic Fatah leader serving five consecutive life sentences in Israel for his involvement in the killings of four Israelis and a Greek monk.
Although Barghouti believes in using force to gain Palestinian independence, he also favors peace talks.
