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On a crisp, clear night in January, Palestinian election officials emptied boxes full of ballots and started counting the first votes ever cast by Palestinians in a general election.

As international observers looked on, two things were immediately apparent: Yasir Arafat was heading toward a landslide victory, and Palestinians in most parts of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank had turned out in large numbers to vote. In addition to electing Mr. Arafat president, voters also selected an 88-member legislative assembly.

One team of international observers was particularly interested in the process. The Carter Center and the Washington, D.C.-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) had been planning for this day for more than two years. Headed by former President Jimmy Carter and former Polish Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka, the 40-person Carter Center-NDI delegation observed the casting of ballots and the initial counts in 16 constituencies in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem.

"We had complete access to every detail and facet of the process," said William Chace, president of Emory University and a member of The Carter Center-NDI delegation. "As one of the leading independent Israeli newspapers put it, the victory in the elections was threefold: peace won, Arafat won, and democracy won."

The delegation's mandate included the examination of three aspects of the election process: the pre-election period, the balloting and counting on election day, and the tabulation and announcement of results.

"We saw a number of problems on election day," said Harry Barnes, director of The Carter Center's Conflict Resolution and Human Rights programs. "These included campaign activities within polling places, problems with secrecy of ballots, general disorganization, and some intimidation by party agents and security officials. While we don't want to minimize these and other irregularities, we saw no pattern of fraud or manipulation. Overall, the Palestinian people had an historic opportunity to choose their leaders, and they did so with enthusiasm and a high degree of civic responsibility."

For two years prior to the elections, NDI conducted civic education programs on the election process. Throughout the pre-election period, The Carter Center and NDI sent two high-level missions to assess voter and candidate registration, the campaign, the political environment, media coverage, the role of security forces, and voter education efforts.

"We didn't just drop in at the last minute to monitor these elections," President Carter said. "This trip was the result of many long months of careful preparation and observation."

Mediating on Election Day
Jimmy Carter stood toe-to-toe with the Israeli police officer, protesting the videotaping of Palestinian voters at the East Jerusalem polling site. "Palestinians could be intimidated by this," he said.

The officer explained that the surveillance was due to Israeli fears of terrorism in Jerusalem on election day. President Carter already had heard complaints from Palestinian candidates and leaders that the large Israeli security presence around the polling sites and the arrest of Palestinian election monitors were discouraging voter participation in Jerusalem. In the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians were voting at a very high rate.

President Carter conveyed these concerns to the Israeli government. By early afternoon, when he returned to the East Jerusalem polling stations, the number of Israeli military and police had been reduced significantly, and the level of voter participation had increased. "We were pleased that during the course of the day, the Israeli government was constructive and responsive to those concerns," President Carter said. "We also were impressed by the spirit of cooperation and compromise between Israeli and Palestinian officials on the peace process as well as the election."

"The Carter Center has been a pioneer in election-mediating before, during, and after elections so as to assure that all the parties believe that they have a fair chance and that the election process is neutral," said Robert Pastor, a Carter Center fellow and a member of the delegation. "In this case, President Carter was able to contact the Israeli government in a way that permitted the problem to be solved quickly."