Abbas: legislative elections in next May

Palestinian leaders made talks on Sunday in Egypt that dealt with the development of conditions following the death of the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

The talks held by the chairman of the Palestine Liberation organization PLO Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazin) and the prime minister Ahmad Qurei ( Abu al-Ala), and Rouhi Fattouh, the Palestinian Interim President who were included in the meetings with the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the secretary general of the Arab league Amr Moussa.

Following the talks, Abu Mazin told journalists that he had reviewed with Mubarak the developments of the Palestinian conditions since the death of Arafat especially in regard to transferring the authority. The Palestinian presidential elections are due on January 2005 and will be launched by Abu Mazin as a candidate for the Fatah movement, the greatest PLO movements.

Meantime, Abbas expected the organization of Palestinian legislative organizations in May. Abbas who is nominated to succeed the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat indicated that the legislative elections will be organized inside the Palestinian lands in May in a date to be set later and will be preceded by elections to choose a new chairman for the Palestinian authority on January 9th and local elections for the municipal council on December 23rd. Abbas made this statement after his meeting with the Egyptian President Mubarak accompanied by Qurei. Both Abbas and Qurei made talks with the UN peace talks coordinator on the Middle East Terry Ted Larsen before they had met with the Egyptian president.