Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Palestinian Elections to Be Held in January

Aired June 26, 2002 - 07:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We have some news to get in here, beginning with Palestinians, who it looks like will be going to the ballot box in January. The news comes just two days after President Bush called for new Palestinian leadership.

Our Sheila MacVicar is in Jerusalem this morning with more on what this could mean for the Palestinians -- Sheila, hello.

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Yes, we all heard President Bush two days ago say that he thought that it was time that the Palestinian people had new leadership. We heard Mr. Arafat yesterday say that he thought that it was up to the Palestinian people to choose their own leaders. And from Mr. Saeb Erakat, the Palestinians' chief negotiator and the minister of local government for the Palestinian Authority, an announcement that there will be presidential elections in the Palestinian territories some time between January 10 and January 20 of 2003.

Now, what we don't know is, of course, whether or not Mr. Arafat will be a candidate for those elections. It is possible, said Mr. Erakat, and that is a decision, rather, that is really up to Mr. Arafat. What happens if he decides to, chooses to step aside, there is a possibility that there will be other candidates coming forward and some of those candidates could be even less appealing to the U.S. administration than Mr. Arafat is at the moment.

Now, all of this comes as part of a group of reforms that the Palestinian Authority is trying to push through, a group of reforms that they've been working on for months. As they have this call for elections, this isn't just a direct response to Mr. Bush's speech.

Of course, the situation on the ground in the territories today, that announcement was made in the West Bank city of Jericho. That's the only major West Bank population center that is not currently under either Israeli military curfew or occupation. And, of course, as Mr. Erakat said, if the tanks are on the streets, how can we go forward to have an election?

That is a question that will be determined by the security situation between now and then, but one that will pose a great deal of problems for international observers -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Sheila MacVicar is in Jerusalem. Sheila, thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com