As the presidential polls closed and official results showed that Fatah candidate Mahmoud Abbas won an overwhelming victory, the Palestinians have made another tangible step towards the smooth transfer of authority since veteran leader Yasser Arafat passed away in last November.

This process took place in an attractive balanced way, which is a surprise to many people who bet that there would be chaos, fighting and internal anarchy after the death of Arafat. It is really amazing that the Palestinians could move peacefully from an unitary leadership to an institutional leadership, Palestinian analysts said.

They said instead of security chaos and anarchy that many were afraid of, people found themselves facing an action whose spirit is democracy and forgiveness.

They argued that the presidential election in which seven candidates had competed to win as well as the municipal elections held lately were clear proof of the democracy.

Official results released Monday afternoon by Palestinian Central Elections Committee (CEC) showed that Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) chairman Abbas has been elected president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) with 62.32 percent of the votes.

Mustafa Barghouti, an independent candidate, was ranked the second and got about 19 percent. Other candidates shared the rest of the votes.

CEC chief Hanna Nasser told reporters that 770,000 Palestinians managed to vote, accounting for 70 percent of those who are eligible to vote in the election.

The holding of the election came as a message for the international community that the Palestinian people "want peace and are committed to it," Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei commented.

He urged the international community to play its role and oblige Israel to carry on the peace negotiations.

"Our message to the whole world is that the Palestinian people had practiced their democracy in an open way... and we want a real partner for the peace," he continued.

On Sunday, the Palestinians showed great enthusiasm to the voting, broadly hailed as a step to improve their political and security situation and to end the Israeli occupation. The restrictions of movements resulted by the Israeli besiege in the Gaza Strip and West Bank didn't prevent the Palestinian voters from heading to the ballot stations.

Meanwhile, the military factions' approval to enter the democratic arena also indicated an important change to the Palestinian politics, analysts said.

Both Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), which have been objecting to the Oslo Accords for 10 years, participated in the presidential election.

The PFLP showed support to independent candidate Mustafa Barghouti and the DFLP supported its own candidate Tiseer Khaled. At the same time, the Islamic resistance movement Hamas announced that they would not interfere in the election although they boycott it, while asserting their intention to join in the legislative council.

After the death of Arafat, who had been dominating the Palestinian political life for nearly four decades, the Palestinian leadership has managed to take control of the situation without major internal conflicts on power.

The Fatah central committee and PLO executive committee moved quickly to appoint Abbas as the new PLO chief.

Also, Rawhi Fatouh was appointed by the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) to be the interim PNA president till holding elections through sixty days according to the Palestinian law. In December, the first round of the Palestinian municipal elections was successfully organized.

In the opinion of Ali Jarabawi, a teacher of political science at the Bir Zeit University, the smooth transfer of power through the municipal elections as well as the presidential election proves that the Palestinians are qualified of a democratic culture and the demanded political multiplicity.

"The Palestinians conducted this operation despite the Israeli occupation and besiege is a clear proof of their ability to continue national project and establish an independent state," he said.