Palestinian Authority to Hold Elections
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, as we told you, the Palestinian Authority has now set a date for presidential and legislative elections. The formal announcement is being made in Jericho, the only major West Bank city not occupied by Israeli forces. Our Sheila MacVicar joins us now live from Jerusalem -- good morning.</s>SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Yes, speaking just a little more than an hour ago, the Palestinians' chief negotiator, Saeb Erakat -- he's also the minister of local government in the Palestinian Authority -- announced that they would hold presidential and legislative elections between January 10 and January 20 of 2003. The question, of course, given Mr. Bush's speech of two days ago, where he called upon the Palestinians to choose new leadership, is whether or not Mr. Arafat would himself stand as a candidate in those elections. Yesterday, speaking to reporters at his besieged compound in Ramallah, Mr. Arafat said that he was the elected leader of the Palestinian people and that it was up to the Palestinian people to choose their own leaders. Today, asked if Mr. Arafat would be a candidate, Saeb Erakat said that would be up to Mr. Arafat to decide. Now, this is part of a large program of reforms that the Palestinians have embarked on, a program of reforms they have been pushed to do by, amongst others, the U.S. administration. They're calling it a hundred days of reform. Key amongst those reforms, not only this call for elections, the presidential and legislative elections in January, the municipal elections, held for the first time. They will be held in March. The implementation of what's called the Palestinian Basic Law, essentially the constitution, that will take effect in July, and by September the establishment of an independent and competent judiciary and the reform of the Palestinian security services. These are all things that both the international community, the U.S. administration and the government of Israel had been pressing for. The question, of course, will be the implementation of these things on the ground -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: Sheila, how will the candidates be chosen for this election?</s>MACVICAR: There have been, this is not the first time the Palestinian Authority has had elections and the Palestinian constitution, this Basic Law, calls for multi-party parliament democracy. That means that individuals will come forward who will represent different political parties and will stand for elections within constituencies that are determined by borders. Now, the question of who will stand as a presidential candidate, if Mr. Arafat will stand, who else may emerge as other presidential candidates is simply too soon to answer at this time. One important note, Mr. Erakat did say that it would be incredibly difficult under the current situations, remembering that only one major West Bank city is currently not under Israeli military occupation or curfew, if they were to attempt to have these elections where there was still, in Mr. Erakat's words, tanks in the streets -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: I can understand that. The other question I had is if somebody does run against Yasser Arafat, that person would have to be quite a courageous person.</s>MACVICAR: It would depend. I mean it is clear that it would depend upon what Mr. Arafat chose to do. It would depend on the sentiment in the Palestinian streets, whether there's pressure from the U.S. administration, this calling for him to basically be pushed aside by the Palestinian people, if that creates a situation where it's really not possible for another viable candidate to come forward. There will be other candidates. The question is are any of them viable and are any of them acceptable to not just the Palestinian people, but, in this instance, the U.S. administration and the government of Israel, as well. One more thing that's important to note here. Mr. Erakat, in making his announcement, said that it was important to remember that this was not something that had just been dreamt up by the Palestinians over the course of the last few days as a result of that pressure from the U.S. administration. This is what Mr. Erakat said.</s>SAEB ERAKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: Many of you may think we are submitting this or saying this in response to President Bush's speech. We are saying this in response to Palestinian needs. We're saying this because we've been working on this reform for months.</s>MACVICAR: Now, one more thing. We have heard an initial reaction from a senior spokesperson for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel, saying that what is important is not only words, but actions. And, of course, the most important action is to stop the violence -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: All right, Sheila MacVicar reporting live for us from Jerusalem this morning. Thank you.