Abbas on Palestinian elections: “We will not agree that the residents of Jerusalem vote elsewhere than Jerusalem”

Excerpt of speech by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas at the opening of the international conference on corruption organized by the PA. This is the print edition of the speech and summaries of parts of it. In the live speech Abbas went off manuscript several times –Ed.

Headline: "The [PA] president: We are going to elections after all of the organizations have agreed"

“From a political perspective, the most important issue we are dealing with at this time is the elections for the [PA] Parliament (Legislative Council) and the [PA] presidency, which we announced at the UN that we are moving towards them. Indeed, we have begun to make efforts with the Palestinian organizations – the election committee led by Hanna Nasser has begun to work with the organizations. Yesterday (Sunday) [Dec. 8, 2019] we announced that all of these organizations agree to elections, and this is a good step. One small – but big – step remains: the issue of Jerusalem. In 1996 and 2006 we held elections for the residents of Jerusalem in Jerusalem, and we will not agree that the residents of Jerusalem vote elsewhere than Jerusalem."