Ehud Barak's dramatic victory was greeted with joy by Arab politicians, mixed with disappointment over the relatively low voter turnout in the Arab community.

At least well have the knowledge that Barak won primarily on the Jewish vote and not because of the Arabs, said Hadash spokesman Dror Nissan after a long day of tension and uncertainty.

Netanyahu's concession speech and resignation as leader of the Likud took most pundits in the Arab sector by surprise.

We had thought that there would be an 80 percent plus turnout, but this apparently did not happen in the Arab sector. Nevertheless, we believe that support for Hadash has held solid, said Nissan.

At the Nazareth headquarters of MK Abdul Wahab Darawshes Democratic Arab Party, which ran with the Islamic Movement on the United Arab List, the mood was slightly more optimistic than it had been at midday, when the voter turnout was reported to be only 14%.

It seems that the turnout at the end of the day will be 75%-80% in many Arab towns and villages, although this is still lower than what we had hoped for, said UAL spokesman Mohammed Darawshe. We managed to pull the turnout up in the afternoon and evening and overcame the crisis and the final results will only be known in the morning.

MK Azmi Bishara's Balad had been well behind in the polls throughout the day, although Bishara himself was busy throughout the Arab community helping to drum up support.

The exit polls gave four seats to Hadash, four the UAL, and two to Balad. We think this is a very significant victory and we are still hoping that we will get one more seat, said a tired but satisfied Bishara.

Dr. Elie Rekhess, head of Tel Aviv Universitys program on Arab politics in Israel, said that it is still too early to say what part the Arab vote had played in Baraks expected victory.

Nevertheless, he noted that it appeared that the voter turnout among Israeli Arabs had been lower than expected. The sudden withdrawal of three candidates may have created a feeling of complacency in the Arab sector, coupled with an unexpected number of abstentions, he said.

This latter aspect could be attributed to a number of factors, including the fact that a nucleus of Bisharas supporters had advocated putting in blank ballots for prime minister in the event that Bishara dropped out. There was also no clear-cut call from the dogmatic northern faction of the Islamic Movement, which has widespread grassroots support, to vote in the elections, while some Arabs may also have expressed their disappointment and frustration with the Arab parties in the Knesset and decided not to vote.

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