The recent election in Iraq, and the one in the Palestinian Authority more than a month ago, are rare windows into the future of the Middle East. Those who have looked through them have seen that, beyond the apocalyptic and pessimistic speeches reported all over the European press, President Bush’s plan possesses a winning card.

The winning card is the magic of voting; it is the incomparable joy of democracy; it is the ecstasy that only freedom and equality can give through an act so simple, precise, and yet so rare in the Middle East and in other parts of the world.

Iraqis tidily wrote their choices on folded pieces of paper, knowing that the choice of the rich and the poor, of the handsome and the ugly, of the wise and of the simple, all have the same value; and they all expect to receive something in return for the trust they gave.

The voters who walked through the boulevards of central Baghdad displayed big smiles of victory, defiant of the clear and present danger. They lined up in order, even in the face of a serious and real threat, as the 40 who died on election day confirmed. Women were wearing their best dresses, the ones reserved for holidays, and some brought their children along to witness this historic day.

These brave men and women were saying: “I only lived for this day! I don’t face a yes and a no and I don’t risk my life anymore for saying no! I finally decide who will sit in the government and who will represent me.” They were so proud to show the cameras their blue finger, that same finger that champions wave when they place first in a competition or when they score a goal and run around the field.

They showed and celebrated their courage for having risked their lives for a just and holy cause, for they participated in the most ingenious instrument invented by man to fight injustice and tear down the walls of social and cultural discrimination without shedding a single drop of blood.

The Palestinian Arabs also participated in recent elections with pride; they voted without hesitation and claimed it as proof of dignity and power. Everyone voted: the women, so embittered by losses and deep discomfort, and the young men from the refugee camps, the ones wearing black leather jackets who are used to the cruel logic of death fomented by raids. They all voted. And so it happened in Iraq.

Was there an unconscious sense of triumph in front of a future as uncertain and difficult as the new Iraqi Republic? Was there a sense of victory within the Shiite and Kurd majorities who were ferociously dominated for so long by Saddam Hussein? It does not seem like it. It is actually amazing to realize how little was said in the electoral campaigns of the Shiites about the thousands of killings. The Kurds also avoided focusing on Mr. Hussein’s attempts to exterminate them, using his militias to gas them. The proof is the invitation to the Sunnis, written as a law, to participate in the new government, even if they failed to vote.

The magic of voting does not only rest in the psychological effect of self-respect as a citizen, and, hence, of joy and dignity. The vote also pro vides an alternative to violence: It provides an opportunity to make a change without the use of weapons. The vote amazes because it brings quick results to a society where, up until Sunday, no one was fully aware of the responsibility connected to voting.

In other words, Yasser Arafat was not obliged to guarantee the well-being of his people or the return of prisoners. The elections that elevated him with 90% rates were illegitimate. He did not need to communicate a sense of logic for his management of power. His only interest was to promote or not to hinder the basic element of a politics where war was a priority, a war whose price has been primarily paid by the people: the murderous attacks of suicidal terrorists.

Abu Mazen was not elected for his charisma, nor did the voting results resemble the ones of authoritarian Arab countries against alternative components. Abu Mazen must therefore give something back to his people in exchange for the confidence he received. He must bring the prisoners back home and must make the Palestinian state a reality and not an ideological background, as it was during Arafat’s tenure.

It is for these reasons that Anu Mazen has so far made an authentic effort to contain the terrorists; of course, this was also made possible by Israeli efforts. Until today, Mazen has almost stopped the launching of Assam rockets from Gaza. Generally, the number of attacks has fallen 85%. All of this has initiated a process that, unless stopped by internal forces, could be revolutionary: the meeting between Ariel Sharon and Abu Mazen and the withdrawal of the Israeli troops from five Palestinian cities in the West Bank.

Likewise in Iraq, the existence of an elected government will bring a larger sense of reality to the Sunni component, which will eventually want to participate in Iraq’s future and abandon the bloody past. The government will have to focus on security, on controlling the borders, and, with the help of Americans, it will make considerable improvements. New trust and confidence in a country that displayed so much courage will bring investment and wealth and will be yet further proof of how wise the election was.

A new process has begun and it will continue unless the terrorists manage to inflict a large, shocking attack. Yet the process is already in motion. In Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia, and even in the moderate Arab countries, people are dreaming of going to the voting booths as they saw the Iraqis do.

Democracy is contagious and attractive. It is not true that the Arab world or the Muslim world in general is attracted only to dictatorship, as many say with a polemical tone or inaccurate assumptions. There is no man who does not wish to pick the fruit of dignity and pride that only a free vote can give – along with a free press and free movement. Simply put, one part of the world has not yet lived this revolution. This has caused the bloody situation in the Middle East, but maybe today we are witnessing a change, thanks to the revolutionary value of the vote, to democracy, and, hence, to America and her allies.

Ms. Nirenstein is an Italian journalist and author living in Israel. Her column was translated from the Italian by Giordana Grego.