WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush said he is "heartened" by strong turnout in Palestinian elections on Sunday and promised to bolster peace efforts.
"Palestinians throughout the West Bank and Gaza took a key step toward building a democratic future by choosing a new president in elections that observers describe as largely free and fair," the president said in a statement.
"This is a historic day for the Palestinian people and for the people of the Middle East," he said.
Exit polls showed former prime minister Mahdud Abbas had won the election to replace the late Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat by a huge margin, winning around two-thirds of the votes cast.
Bush said the United States and all free nations strongly supported the efforts of the Palestinian people to create lasting democratic institutions.
"These efforts -- including today's presidential elections and the parliamentary elections that will follow in several months -- are essential for the establishment of a sovereign, independent, viable, democratic, and peaceful Palestinian state that can live alongside a safe and secure Israel," he said.
Bush said his administration looked forward to working with a newly-elected Palestinian president and the Palestinian people to advance the cause of Middle East peace consistent with the vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.
He urged Israel to help improve the humanitarian and economic situation in the West Bank and Gaza and said the Arab states must take "concrete steps with all parties to create a regional environment conducive to peace, lend financial support to the Palestinian people, and refuse to assist or harbor terrorists."
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said earlier that Washington "is standing ready to do a lot more. We can help the new Palestinian president, the new leaders of the Palestinian Authority, reform their government to make it more efficient, less corrupt.
"We can help working with the Egyptians, Jordanians and many others in the rebuilding of the Palestinian security forces so that they can take control of Gaza," which will "be turned over to them in the next eight or nine months I hope," he added.
Powell said this would mean more financial aid on top of the 20 million dollars given recently to the Palestinian Authority.
Powell, speaking on ABC television from Nairobi, said the United States would advance the "road map" to peace, which it drew up with the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.
He said the end of attacks on Israel, Israel's release of more Palestinian prisoners and withdrawal from Palestinian territories would all be part of the road map.
Abbas is considered moderate and pragmatic in Washington, which had supported him during his brief term as prime minister in 2003.
But US officials have emphasized that Abbas will be judged by the progress of reforms that the US administration considers essential: controlling Palestinian security forces and ending attacks by radical Palestinian groups.
An official US observer delegation at the Palestinian elections was led by senators John Sununu and Joseph Biden, both top members of the Senate Foreign Relations committee.
"We have an historic occasion that is taking place here now," Sununu told NBC television from the Palestinian territories, adding that the vote was unique in the Arab world.
"We're having a peaceful election process -- seven candidates campaigning across the West Bank and Gaza -- we've have probably 60, 65 or 70 percent of the registered voters voting today," said Sununu, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Biden said the election had been "smooth."
01/09/2005 22:08 GMT - AFP