Wailing in the the streets of Yemen
The drama continues.
The GPC is apparently a paper tiger without Saleh. If Saleh sticks to his decision, it will envigorate the party system which was nearly dead, as is demonstrated by their immature reaction. They are acting like a cult of personality not a party.
The GPC could find one honest person I’m sure, one person who all along has been working in the public interest, maybe somebody who objected to that monsterous budget, and make him their candidate.
Thousands of Yemeni people were pushed to protest against the decision of the president Saleh appealing accept the GPC nomination for the upcoming elections in September.
Abu Suhaib, an accountant in a drug company, told The Mirror that the administration of the company forced all the staff to protest in Al-Tahreer Square where thousands of people gathered from different ministries and institutions. “I don’t care if he run or not,” he said. “I had a lot of work to do.”
The majority of people surveyed by The Mirror after the speech of the president Saleh during the GPC exceptional conference said they felt the seriousness of his decision. However, some political analysts believe it is mere acting.
Dr. Abdullah Al-Faqeeh, Professor of Political Science at Sana’a University, told NewsYemen that the speech of the president was not serious enough. “I think President Saleh and Prime Minister Bajammal are of the most skilful movie stars in the world,” he said.
Al-Faqeeh added, “In the event President Saleh insisted on his rejection to the candidacy – which I do exclude at the same time – the country will be pushed into cataclysm, because it was built on this political system and the whole country was established accordingly.
“On the second hand, the friends of the President, officials of his party and relatives will not agree on another person. Everybody feels he is the rightful replacement for the monarchy.”
According to the professor, the opposition in obliged to nominate a strong candidate to seriously and strongly compete for several reasons, including that the GPC was summed up in the character of the President and there is no attempt to find alternatives.
WPH: Informed sources told United Press International that Saleh is determined not to reconsider his decision to stay away from elections, and that the extraordinary meeting was aimed at nominating the ruling party’s candidate for president.
The sources said Saleh issued firm instructions to Prime Minister Abdel Kader Bajamal to ban demonstrations and marches to press him to submit his candidature for another seven-year term. They also noted that Saleh rejected a request by a committee of Yemeni businessmen to meet with him in order to press for renewing his presidential candidature.
A member of the Popular Congress Party leadership said Saleh will conduct an open dialogue with senior party members to clarify the motives for his decision not to run for reelection and will defend his viewpoint, but the final decision remains in the hands of the party leadership.
