Palestinian elections will not bring real change: Mustafa Barghouti

[0:00] Mustafa Barghouti is the Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative and a former [0:05] Palestinian Minister of Information. He joins us from Ramallah in the Occupied West Bank. Good to [0:11] have you with us. So just to put this first of all into a broad perspective for viewers, [0:19] what do these elections mean for Palestinians in terms of birthing a new political reality that [0:27] represents their aspirations, represents their rights? I don't think they do. And unfortunately [0:36] these elections are just going to bring the same system that was there all the time. Why? Let me [0:42] explain. Elections are happening now only in 183 communities out of 429. Why is that? Because [0:53] 49 communities had no list whatsoever. Nobody wanted to run. And because 197 communities [1:03] have only one list, which means there are no real elections happening there. So in reality, [1:09] the elections are happening only in 42% of the communities. Why is that, Mustafa? Can you [1:15] just explain to viewers why is that? I'm going to explain that list. That is that because the [1:21] Palestinian Authority imposed on candidates who want to run a commitment to its political [1:28] program, which is a violation, a constitutional violation of people's rights and a violation [1:35] of people's right to have freedom of expression and freedom of belief. That's why many parties [1:43] like ours have boycott these elections demanding that there will be no conditions imposed on any [1:49] of the candidates who want to run. And the second reason is because people want to see the real [1:56] elections, which they are still waiting for. For 20 years we did not have legislative council [2:03] elections and we did not have presidential elections since 21 years. That's why these elections maybe [2:12] are meant to show some countries in the world that there is some reform happening, but that's not true. [2:17] The real reform will happen when we have separation between judiciary, executive, and legislative [2:27] powers. And that can happen only if Palestinians are allowed to have presidential and legislative [2:33] council elections. Mustafa, let me jump in and play devil's advocate from perhaps the perspective of [2:38] those Fatah factions. Could they argue, well, the reason for those conditions you mentioned is that [2:44] the priority in these elections is re-establishing some sense of the viability of a governing authority [2:50] and the connection between Gaza and the West Bank. Do these elections at least re-establish [2:57] that kind of connection between Gaza and the West Bank that we saw was undone in June, in the events [3:04] of June 2007? [3:05] That is good because the fact that there is elections, but it's only in one place, [3:12] where only 21% are participating, according to the results of the Central Election Commission. [3:21] But why we didn't have elections in Gaza? Why we didn't have elections in the north, in Rafah? Because [3:27] there are, these areas are occupied by the Israeli army, which of course does not allow people to have [3:35] normal life or normal ability to have elections. A big question here is why we didn't have elections [3:41] ever in Gaza City since 1956? Why during all the years of the Palestinian Authority, we didn't have [3:49] elections for Gaza City? And that's why I think what we need is real elections. If you count that only 40% [3:57] are voting today. In only 42% of the communities where elections are happening, then the actual [4:06] participation is only 17%. And that's not what Palestinians are used to. [4:12] Will these elections, you kind of touched on this, the idea of reform, will they show reform? And will [4:19] they show reform to a degree that convinces outside powers like the US, like Israel, [4:25] Israel, that the PA is a viable, functioning authority that can take over some, at least, [4:34] responsibilities in Gaza and move that peace deal forward? Or is that a dream, do you think? [4:42] No, they might, for some people, they might show an image of reform. But in reality, this is not reform. [4:48] We can't speak about reform unless there is true democratic reform, which means free democratic elections, [4:55] presidential and legislative, for legislative council, and maybe for Palestinian national council. [5:01] But without these elections, we cannot speak about separation of powers. And without these elections, [5:07] the whole, all the powers in the Palestinian Authority, which is also stripped from many of its [5:13] powers by the occupying forces, all the powers in it are concentrated in the hands of a small number of [5:20] people. And that's what is felt during these elections, that even when in some places, some [5:27] lists tried to present opposition participation, they were unfortunately subjected to oppression. [5:37] Okay, we'll have to leave it there. Thanks so much, Mustafa Borghouti from the Palestinian [5:41] National Initiative. Joining us from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Thank you.