SANAA, 20 June 2006 — Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s ruling General People’s Congress (GPC) has signed a deal with opposition parties to guarantee free and fair presidential elections in September.
The agreement stipulates that the GPC and the seven opposition parties which inked the accord will take part in presidential and local elections under conditions ensuring that they are free of fraud.
The alliance of opposition parties which put their names to the accord on Sunday includes the Al-Islah (Reform) Party and the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP), the ruling party in the former South Yemen.
It also includes the Unionist Popular Nasserite Organization. All three parties have seats in Parliament, but the house is dominated by the GPC.
The agreement was signed under Saleh’s auspices, about a month before aspirants begin to present their candidacies, a process expected to get under way in mid-July.
The accord states that official media will remain neutral during the election campaign and provide a platform for all presidential and local candidates. It bans the use of public office for the benefit of any party or financing the election campaign through public funds.
The accord commits Saleh to guarantee the impartiality of the security forces in the polls by issuing a decree prohibiting their intervention in the electoral process and banning senior officers from putting pressure on subordinates to influence their vote.
Other clauses provide for including representatives of opposition parties in both the higher election committee and committees that will supervise the polls and count votes.
Signatories also pledged to encourage the participation of women in the elections both as voters and candidates.
The deal was sealed three days before the GPC holds an extraordinary meeting to choose its presidential candidate.
Saleh announced last July that he would not seek a new seven-year mandate, but he is nevertheless expected to be nominated by his party when it convenes tomorrow.
GPC secretary-general and Prime Minister Abdul Qader Bajammal recently said that the party has “no alternative” to Saleh.
Saleh, a 64-year-old field marshal, has been at the helm since 1978, first as president of the then North Yemen, then as head of the unified state when South and North Yemen merged in May 1990.
