Armies of Liberation

The JMP, which is the actual political opposition not like that new fangled creation, must get on the ball. The Parliamentary election is in April and the SCER isn’t formed yet.

Yemen Online

Yemen Elections : JMP shouldn’t hold the elections hostage ” El-Erayni says

Dr.Abdul karim El-Eryani, Political Advisor of the Yemeni president and Second Vice-President of General People Congress (Ruling party) declared to YemenOnline that the elections and formation of the Supreme Commission For Elections & Referendum (SCER)are completely independent process . Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) shouldn’t hold the elections hostage because they have political problems with the government.Dr.El-Eryani has left the dialogue on the formation of SCER with JMP because they were insisted on linking elections to other issues not related to elections .

Yemen Times

SANA’A, July 2 — Parliament last Tuesday approved suspending discussion on a project to amend a law regarding the Supreme Commission for Elections and Referendum in order to achieve political agreement between Yemen’s main parties within the formation of such committee.

The government proposed a project last November to amend the election law to stipulate that committee members be judges, which caused reservations within the Joint Meeting Parties, who demanded the committee be comprised of politicians, based upon party-agreed principles. However, the ruling General People’s Congress suggests the committee be formed in accordance with the number of voters in the April 2003 parliamentary elections.

The state-run Saba News Agency reports that the Yemeni Parliament – in which the GPC holds 229 out of 301 seats – approved suspending discussion of the project to amend the public election law “out of its belief regarding the importance of political agreement and achieving the nation’s supreme interests, as the involved parties and political organizations continue the process of political dialog.”

It also pointed out that Parliament expressed its sorrow at the absence of JMP parliamentary bloc members from Parliament sessions, claiming they changed their decision regarding boycotting Parliament.

JMP parliamentary bloc members have been boycotting such sessions since June 9 in protest against the amendment project’s placement on Parliament’s schedule.

Update: And they’re back.
Changed their minds, made a deal: Sahwa Net –parliamentary blocs of the Yemeni opposition have declared ending of their boycott to the parliament’s sessions in return of the ruling party abandoning to discuss a draft which through it was intending to pass an election law solely using its majority. They achieved consensus on 60% of the issues the GPC reports.

Yemen Post

Ten days before announcing the new ministerial reshuffle, Minister of Expatriates Affairs Saleh Sumi’ee resigned from his post in protest against the constant demands by the head of investigation sector at the Anti-corruption committee to pay the due sums for the Yemeni community schools in the Horn of Africa.

Sumi’ee hinted that the head of the education center for community schools Abdul Bari Al-Dhamari embezzled YR 45 million over the years 1998 to 2002 at the leniency of Finance and Expatriates’ Affairs ministries.

(Read on …)

Yemen Post
Local sources told the Yemen Post that President Saleh has sought to force Al-Ezi bin Abadan to withdraw his candidacy as governor of Al-Jawf. The negotiations led Al-Jawf sheikhs and tribes supporting Abadan to lift their siege on the government complex in Al-Hazm, the capital city of Al-Jawf province.

Bin Abadan support amassed last week after a first-instance court rejected the results of elections and ordered conducting new elections, demanding the result to be approved and to announce their fellow as the winner.

(Read on …)

This is such garbage, complete and total. The governors “election” brought 17 of Saleh’s hand picked GPC cronies to the post. But in three other cases, independents were elected by the local councils despite overwhelming pressure. In al-Jawf, they took a stand and voted their conscience. I was so happy about that. It was something. But now the country with more male voters then men is overthrowing the election in al-Jawf because of electoral improprieties.

Yemeni court orders re-election in al-Jawf province
Sana’a, May 23, 2008 (YemenOnline) – A Yemeni court ordered a re-election in al-Jawf province due to the many appeals field against former governor elections in which an independent candidate won over a ruling General People’s Congress (JPC) candidate in May 17, 2008.

(Read on …)

26 Sept

Candidates of General People’s Congress for governors’ post won in most Yemeni provinces, while independent candidates won in the provinces of Al baydha, Al Jawf and Marib. The election id Adalea province postponed due to lack of quorum.

The Election supervising committee in Marib province has announced the independent candidate for the province governor post Naji al-Zayedi to win.

He came ahead of the ruling party nominee Hussein Hazeb with 141 of 206 eligible voters against 36 for Hazeb.

The origin number of the eligible voters in the province electoral body reaches 268.

On the other hand, Ahmed al-Maisari won in the Abyan governor elections with 125 voters against 94 for his rival Muhammad Saleh Hadran.

In Hodiedah Ahmed Salim al-Jabali overwhelmingly won the elections.

The Nation

SANA’A // Yemen held its first vote for provincial governors yesterday, with the ruling party winning all but three of the 20 districts, while an opposition boycott in a fourth led to the vote being cancelled.

In Mareb, al Baidha and al Jawf, the winning ruling party members ran as independents after they opposed the party’s choice of candidate, while in al Dhale’, where the election was boycotted by the opposition, a governor will be appointed by Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president.

The election followed a decision by Mr Saleh last month to allow 7,498 local council members to elect the mayor of the capital, Sana’a, and the governors of 20 provinces. But the opposition said that the election was a farce, as candidates are not chosen by the party but by the party’s leadership.

(Read on …)

A poll of 75% men finds opposition to a woman as governor….

YPC: 53.8% of Yemenis refuse idea of electing woman as governor

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news153385.htm
[05 May 2008]
SANA’A, May 05 (Saba)- A poll showed on Monday that 78.3 percent of the respondents had expressed support to the upcoming elections of the mayor of the capital Sana’a and governors of the provinces, which to be held on 17 may, while 21.5 percent said that the elections have no significance.

(Read on …)

Yemen Observer

The GPC Political Secretary, Abdullah Ahmed Ghanim, announced that their meeting which was held last Thursday changed the governors’ election timetable. Formerly scheduled for April 27, the election will now take place at a later date in May. The ruling GPC’s general committee member said the committee decided to delay the April 27 date since the president decided to call for the election of local council bodies for the governors to take place in May.

Ghanim said that the governors’ elections postponement will allow time for finishing the election procedures, giving ample time for submitting nomination forms. It will also provide the necessary time for examining forms and their competence with the nomination law terms. The postponement also provides time for the obtainment of consent because the nominee should have the consent of at least ten percent of the electoral body, on condition that the number of nominees does not exceed ten persons in each governorate. The final time for elections will then be determined, followed by the vote’s count and result declaration. “We are going to have the right time and procedures,” the source said.

Ghanim pointed out that the GPC will be running the governors’ elections in all governorates, even in the al-Dale governorate in which the GPC has no local council majority.

It does, however, have a large representation of governorates and directorates at local council level. Ghanim expected that the parliament will determine the formation of the supreme election committee in May.

As a first reaction to the opposition, the JMP spokesperson, Dr. Mohammed Saleh al-Qubati, said that the approval of the governors’ election draft law by the ruling party majority is no more that humorous comedy. Marking serious drawbacks of the GPC’s leading authorities and their commitments, the JMP declared that they will accept either local governments or a fully authorized local governance.

Al-Qubati said that the authority and its ruling party’s trend in tackling the law amendment will contribute to escalating present crises.

As spokesperson for the JMP, al-Qubati announced their refusal to accept the local authority’s draft to amend the law concerning governors’ elections, declaring that there is no point in joining such mock elections which are tailored to the ruling party.

YemenTimes

SANA’A, April 23 — Republican decree 86 for the year 2008, regarding the bylaw of electing governors and Sana’a’s mayor, was issued on Monday. The government approved the decree on Sunday.

The decree’s 45 items state that the Ministry of Local Administration is to prepare and supervise governor elections. The bylaw also says committees are to be formed to supervise the elections at the governorate level, with each committee to consist of three to five members and chaired by someone who is not below a deputy minister position.

According to the bylaw, voting for the governors will be confidential. For candidates to win the election, they or their representatives must be present during voting and ballot counting. In their absence, the supervising committee is to select another candidate to fill the winner’s place.

Any candidate can impugn the election results by submitting a petition to the judiciary committee within 48 hours after the results are announced, the bylaw says.

Additionally, the bylaw says any candidate running for governor should meet certain conditions, being at least 40 years of age and holding a university degree or any equivalent certificate.

Candidates should also have at least 10 years of practical experience in the government or private sector.

A candidate must also have the recommendation of 10 percent of the local council members. A member of the local council should not recommend more than one candidate, and if he/she recommended more than one candidate, then his/her recommendations are regarded invalid.

Elections delayed

The Ministry of Defence’s website, www.sep.net, said that the ruling General People’s Congress (GPC) changed the time of the elections of governors from April 27 to an unspecified day in May. The website quoted Abdullah Ahmed Ghanem, head of the ruling party’s political office, as saying that the GPC’s General Committee decided to make April 27 a day for President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s announcement for governor elections.

Ghanem didn’t specify when exactly the elections would be held, but he said delaying the election day would give time to complete necessary measures for the elections.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Local Administration said on Tuesday that gathering recommendations by the current governors from local council members with the aim to use them [recommendations] for the election of governors is illegal.

The ministry added that the committees tasked with supervising the elections would not consider such recommendations. It further noted that it is preparing a sample recommendation in accordance with certain conditions.

The GPC dominated local councils will nominate and elect the govs. There’s no residency requirement. Current governors can be nominated, but the GPC is not using its power to get the appointed current governors formally installed by the vote, Shamy sez. The governor of Aden really needs to go.

al-Motamar

Almotamar.net - Head of the Information Office at the General People’s Congress (GPC) Treq al-Shamy on Monday said the door to nomination for the post of a governor is open but as a transitional stage the electing body would be from members of governorate and district local councils and are amounting to more than 7200 members.

On the right of governors who are at present heads of local councils and if they are also meant for nomination al-Shamy said , ” They have the right and it is not a condition that the candidate to be from the sons of the governorate especially if that governor was successful in his job and offered much to the governorate, ” but al-Shamy affirmed that on condition of the recommendation he is entitled to get and estimated at 10% of the total members of local councils in the governorate for nomination to the post.

Al-Shamy in a statement to altaghyeer.net website has ruled out that the GPC ruling party would use its majority in the councils for reproduction of the present reality through the re-election of the present governors and their continuation vial balloting boxes.

Mareb Press

The political leaders of the opposition Join Meeting Parties (JMPs) described the electing of governors as ‘play’. They said the governor elections contradict the principle of free and direct elections.

They demanded to issue a law allowing all people to elect the governors and district directors.

The chairman of the political circle of Yemen Congregation for Reform party (Islah) said in a press conference for the JMPs, “we are with the decision of governors and district directors elections, if the elections are open and public, but the government has confined the candidacy for governor post on the members of governorate and district local councils.”

Earlier, the National Defense Council (NDC) chaired by President Ali Abdullah Saleh decided on Wednesday to amend some articles of the Local Authority Law concerning elections of governors.

The NDC decided to transfer all financial allowances for development projects in governorates to the local councils and to give local councils the authority of electing governors from members of the local councils in the governorates.

Trial resumes. Jaber says he didnt plot to blow the facilities. Then there’s Tharbani, bin Shamlan’s security guard and Saleh’s cousin who was acquited already despite much fanfare the days before the 2006 election.

Lawyer demands to clear FBI’s most-wanted, Alsahwa.net

March 30, 2008 – Lawyer of Jaber al-Bana’a , the suspect of bombing an oil installation in Marib and the FBI’s most wanted, demanded to aquit his client.

“If the prosecution knows that al-Bana’a was not involved in the case, then it is better to clear him” added the lawyer Abdul-Aziz al-Smawi.

In the hearing headed by Judge Mohammad al-Hakimi, al-Smawi accused the court of working to please outside parties, indicating that other countries no longer accept the United States’ demands. “They woke up” commented he.

Al-Bana who was sentenced to 10 years by a Yemeni court for his connection with terrorism, was released on commercial bail on March 9.

Yemen Post

The State Specialized Penal Court resumes today the trails of Al-Qaeda Cell accused of planning terrorist acts and targeting oil facilities in Mareb and Hadramout late in 2006.

The trial comes after the American Embassy in Sana’a blamed the organization for the recent attack on the Embassy using Hown-mortar shells which missed their way and fell in nearby July 7 school.

Meanwhile, Interior Ministry denied any link of Al-Qaeda Organization with July 7 incident and hinted the Embassy was not a target for the attack.

In a symposium organized by Future Studies Center last week, the guests spoke about the current position of Al-Qaeda Organization in Yemen. Saeed Al-Jumhi, author of ‘Al-Qaeda Organization – the Origin and the Intellectual Background’ published last year stressed the danger stems from people who recruit and produce the sleeping cells.

Chief Editor of News yemen website Nabil Al-Soufi pointed out that none is waging a real military war with Al-Qaeda and it is a matter of settlements. He stressed that Al-Qaeda attacks in Yemen affect the country but not America and hinted the authorities are conniving with the organization for achieving certain ends.

In related news, Najeeb Mohammed Abdu, known also as Abu Hafsah and the guard Aden-Abyan Islamic Army leader Khalid Muhb Al-Nabi is still in Aden’s Al-Naqeeb hospital meeting treatment after being injured in exchange of fire with security men.

Yemen Observer

Principals of all girls’ schools in Sana’a staged a sit-in at the 7th of July school on Wednesday, condemning the attack and at the same time condemning the silence of official authorities and the teachers syndicate about the previous attack that targeted 7th of July school principal Shafia’a al-Seragi. Supporters of al-Seragi said that this silence encouraged the terrorists to launch the second brutal attack.

“Any man that beats a woman, whether she is a teacher, a principal or even an ordinary woman is a coward, as are the officials that close their eyes to violence committed against women,” said the principal of al-Nizari girls’ school.

Three principals of girls’ schools, including al-Seragi, have been attacked in the past two weeks. The three attacked principals are believed to be political and social activists that promote girls’ education and the adoption of new educational methods that prohibit violence in schools.

In addition to the beating of Shafia’a al-Seragi by three men, a principal of a school in Hodeidah was beaten by five women from the Islah Islamic party and also received threats of having her house blown up. A third principal’s car was stolen and had its seats and tires stripped. Her house electricity was cut off by unidentified persons at the same time that the other two female principals were attacked.

Yemen Post is coming up with many good interviews. This one is with the head of NDI:

National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) works in over 60 countries across the globe and seeks to strengthen democratic practices. NDI has been working in Yemen since 1993, primarily supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) but with funding from other sources, such as the Dutch and UK embassies in the past. The two-member office has turned now to be a regional office with over 40 employees of Yemeni and foreign nationalities. It has sought to develop democracy in the country and actively participated in all presidential, parliamentary and local elections conducted in Yemen as of 1993.

By the end of 2006, a Canadian man with European roots (of Bulgarian father and German mother) assumed the responsibility as the resident director of the Sana’a-based NDI regional office. Prior to his arrival in Yemen, the man who just came from Afghanistan thought his task will be an easy one; however, this was not the case. Although Yemen has common features with Afghanistan, including the society’s tribal structure, there were tensions between NDI and the Yemeni government, felt especially under his predecessor Robin Madrid’s direction. It was necessary by then to adjust the Institute’s policies, especially those which aroused Yemeni government’s dissatisfaction. Before joining the NDI, he served as chief of staff to Canada’s Secretary of State for Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East, as well as serving for many years in the Canadian Army, within the Royal Canadian Artillery. This is Peter Dimitroff, the country director of NDI’s program in Yemen.

Though his back ground is military, Dimitroff is energetic and enjoys a high sense of diplomacy and speaks with frankness yet with cautiousness. Hereafter are the details of our interview with him:

Yemen Post: What is your assessment of Yemen’s democratic experience?

Peter Demitroff: Yemen has been able to achieve good results; however, we have to find some way to move beyond that. In fact there exist democratic structures including parliament, local councils, etc, but still we have to push them forward in order to work better. Moreover, unrest in southern Yemen, economic situation, pensioners’ situation should be also read within the political context which is the normal context. There have been fairly good elections, but elections do not mean democracy. Despite all achievements, there is still more work ahead to be done and more improvement is required. Yemen compares well with other regional countries in the democratic field, but this democracy has to bring results to people.

(Read on …)

This is good. The voter rolls are a mess, but this is an opportunity to straighten them out.

PARIS (Thomson Financial) - Gemalto said it has won an order from Yemen to supply an electronic identification system, which includes 10 mln electronic identity cards, in preparation for elections to be held in April 2009.

Financial details for the order were not disclosed.

The order includes the creation of a national biometric security registry, maintenance and local support services.

Formed from the merger of Axalto and Gemplus in 2006, Gemalto had third quarter sales of 400.6 mln eur, up 3 pct from a year earlier.

What? The SCER? Where did it come from? Is it the judges?

Al-Motamar
almotamar.net - The Supreme Commission for Elections and Referendum (SCER) has already begun technical supplies for the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled in Yemen in April 2009.

Secretary General of the SCER Shaef al-Husseini on Thursday has made it clear that at the present the commission is drawing up ideas on needs of technical and material requisites and preparation of budgets for the first stage of the next democratic process such as electorate registration that requires preparation for it six months ahead of the polling day.

Al-Husseini added that the SCER practices its duties and work according to the law that authorizes its general secretariat to take care of financial and administrative works.

Al-Shaef pointed out that the SCER and its branches in the governorates will begin preparing the stage through counting and assessment of what is existing and complete needs at all constituencies and committees.

Related: Yemen Times oped on the NDI report on the last election.

Wonders of the NDI’s report have no limit. When the reader believes that the report has already closed the file of conflicts between SCER and opposition parties, he/she will be shocked to see the report discussing the same issue once again. The way the report is written reminds readers of the former Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Sana’a Nabeel Khoury who completed his assignment in Yemen a few months ago. Khoury confused many observers who did not know whether he is a deputy chief of mission at the Yemeni Embassy in Washington, a deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy here in Sana’a or a representative of the Pope.

Those who prepared the NDI’s report seem to have forgotten the efforts exercised by the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), specialized in electoral affairs, its lengthy reports and the agreed-upon recommendations, which the ruler left in the drawers.

Part of the report concerned with SCER has reminded people of the behavior of Mr. Abdu Al-Janadi, SCER member. This part reads, “The electoral process was managed in a relatively good manner, however, SCER’s performance in preparing and organizing the elections was better than its performance in the area of preventing and correcting violations that occurred during the implementation process.

NDI knows more:

In the part devoted to the election results, the report celebrates the GPC landslide victory in the elections by saying, “Regarding the local council elections, GPC won 85 percent of the seats at the governorate level and 79 percent of the seats at the district level while Islah, which is the strongest opposition party in Yemen, obtained only 7 percent of the governorate seats and 12 percent of the district seats and YSP got only 2 percent of the seats at the governorate level and 3 percent at the district level. The result is totally different from that of 2001 election when GPC got 58.5 percent of the governorate seats and 85.6 percent of the district seats. In that election, the Islah party won 20.4 of the seats at the governorate level and 23.3 percent at the district level while YPS obtained 3.8 and 3.2 percent of the local council seats in the governorates and districts respectively.”

In order not to raise questions about integrity of the elections and NDI, the report gave a scientific reason to such a democratic victory, attributing the low number of votes obtained by Islah and YPS to the inadequate use of resources, as well as the lack of training and organization for their local council candidates. It did not indicate that the election system in Yemen hinders win of opposition candidates.

They learned from the last election that no reform is possible without electoral reform, then comes political reform which is the prerequisite for economic reform.

Al-Sahwa

November 26, 2007- Parliamentary bloc of the Joint Meeting Parties withdrew Monday from the parliament, protesting the ruling party insistence to pass law amendments regarding the Supreme Committee for Elections and Referendum.

The senior member of JMP, Zaid al-Shami, said that such amendments target the opposition party and weaken the fledging democracy in the country.

(Read on …)

I’m unclear on the JMP’s conceptualization of an equitable mechanism for forming the SCER. 50/50 Between the GPC and JMP?

Amending election law includes formation of the election commission
Sunday, 25-November-2007
almotamar.net - Chairman of the parliamentary constitutional and legal affairs committee Ali Abu Hlaiqa read out Sunday the government request for amending some articles of the general election and referendum law for 2001.

Meanwhile the opposition member of parliament Sultan al-Attwani refused that one of members of parliament to present the government’s request of the amendments. The opposition MP said the government has two ministers who are the minister of parliament and Shoura council affairs and the minister of legal affairs and they should have been present to present the request to the parliament and he also expressed his opposition of the draft amendments.

Deputy chairman of the General People’s Congress (GPC) parliamentary bloc Yasser al-Awadhi asserted on his part that the parliament is the master of its decision, indicating that the parliament has issued a decision giving the political parties one week grace period to agree on he supreme commission for elections, calling on the members of parliament to undertake their constitutional and legal duty.

(Read on …)

Al-Sahwa:

Jurists and politicians: ‘SCER is failed and non-neutral’ November 18, 2007- Yemeni Jurists and politicians have demanded to change the current electoral system, pointing out that the outgoing Supreme Committee for Elections and Referendum which its legal term ended last Friday was the reasons behind the imbalance of the democratic process in Yemen.

They further depicted this SCER as the worst in Yemen’s history, affirming that it is one of the main troubles hinder the democratic process.

“It devoted during its term tribe influence instead of parties and was a cause to forgery and legal violations” They told “alsahwa.net “.

Head of the Islah’s electoral office, Ibrahim al-Hair, said that the committee failed in three main points; its ultimate bias to the ruling party, its failure to impose order and its inability to benefit from international fund for elections.

“SCER failed to provide adequate electoral environment and appeared absolutely biased to the ruling party” added al-Hair.

He also said that the coming SCER would face big difficulties as a result of the last one’s terrible legacy.

For his part, the senior leader of the Yemeni Socialist Party, Ali al-Sarari, said that SCER was not balanced in managing elections and the opposition parties’ participation could not also promote its performance as the ruling party firmly controls its base.

Meanwhile, the Nasserite leader, Yassin abdul-Razaq said that the current SCER made a wide gap in voter registration and enable the authorities to achieve its purposes and counterfeit.

He emphasized that SCER dealt with oppositions’ political forces as opponent, considering political future of the country lies on reforming it.

Jurist and activist Khalid al-Ansi confirmed that SCER was not independent and was clearly biased to the ruling party.

The professor of political science in Sana’a University, Dr. Abdullah al-Faqih suggested formation of a new SCER, equally divided between the ruling party and the opposition.

SANA’A, NewsYemen

The Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) said the decision of the majority in the Parliament to give parties an indulgence for one week to reshuffle the Supreme Elections Committee is not the right of the majority belongs to the General People’s Congress.

The Parliament has not the right to take such a decision because the article 36 of elections law assigns the secretary-general of the Supreme Elections Committee to run its affairs, said the JMP’s spokesman Mohammad al-Sabri.

If the majority, which belongs to the ruling party, is interested in solving national issues, it should blame the ruling party for impeding political dialogue with opposition parties, not to put the ball in opposition’s court, al-Sabri told NewsYemen.

He said that reforming the Supreme Elections Committee is a national issue and all should openly address it apart from pressure and threats.

Al-Sabri said the JMP is discussing the issue of the elections committee as a national request to guarantee more candid elections, calling all parties to shoulder their responsibilities.

The Parliament decided yesterday to await the results of dialogue between political parties represented in the Parliament over reshuffling the elections committee despite the legal time of dialogue came to end Friday.

The General People’s Congress party, the ruling party, has the majority of seats in the Parliament after parliamentary elections in 2003.

Jobs given to northerners, not foreigners, seems to be the grievence:

SAN’A, Yemen (AP) — Tribesmen attacked an oil installation in Yemen and then clashed with government troops Thursday, leaving 12 people dead, a local official said. It was the second attack on the country’s oil industry this week.

The clash in Shabwa province, about 136 miles southeast of the Yemeni capital San’a, broke out after men from the Bani Harith clan attacked a Ukrainian-run oil installation, said the province’s governor, Mohammad Ali Ruwashan.

(Read on …)

SANA’A, NewsYemen

The US National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) has advised Yemeni ruling and opposition parties to “limit illegal acts of their leaders and supporters on the local level”.

The NDI has warned that the disability to apply the new election system, due to political wrangling, does not only threaten the coming election practices, but it may negatively influence the trust between Yemeni people and the election system and bodies to be elected, presidential or parliamentary or local.

This trust is important to legalize elections, said the American institute.
It has urged in its latest report on elections the Yemeni political elites to “seriously discuss ways of applying current election-related laws and bylaws before and during elections and spotting shortcomings in the election system to avoid them in future.”

The NDI’s remarks have focused particularly on parliamentary elections in 2009. It has said the elections would be the most important elections in Yemen because a real political contest is expected to be unprecedented event in Yemen, it said.

The institute has hailed the latest performance of Yemeni Parliament towards different issues and efforts of Yemeni civil society organizations and women to find a place in the decision-making posts.

The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) is a nonprofit organization working to strengthen and expand democracy worldwide.

NDI’s bureau in Yemen was for 12 years a key partner of Yemen in the democratic development as it works through different programs of developing the performance of political parties, enhancing the role of parliament, supporting elections and settling conflicts. It is generously funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

But it does a very good imitation of one.

Yemen Times

Yemen held presidential and local council elections in September 2006. President Ali Abdullah Saleh was reelected with 77 percent of the vote, and his party, the General People’s Congress, overwhelmingly won the municipal elections. The balloting was marred by some violence and opposition accusations of fraud. Serious press freedom violations, including the closure of newspapers and detention of journalists, also accompanied the election season.

(Read on …)

UNITED STATES INTSTITUTE OF PEACE SPECIAL REPORT
Engaging Islmaists and Promoting Democracy

YEMEN
Path to Reform. Yemen’s path to reform has been dogged by widespread poverty, high
illiteracy rates, and endemic corruption. Significant democratic reforms were implemented
in the 1990 unification of North and South Yemen, including the legalization of opposition
parties, creation of an independent electoral system, and expanded press freedoms.
Parliamentary elections were held in 1993. However, Yemen’s democratic opening was
marred by numerous setbacks, capped in 2001 by a presidential consolidation of power
that amended the constitution to extend both parliamentary and presidential terms. The
president also gained new powers to dissolve the parliament and extended his control over
the legislature by enlarging the president-appointed upper house.

(Read on …)

Me too.

almotamar.net - The Arab Sisters Forum for HUMAN Rights (SAF), one of the most active civil societies in Yemen, welcomed what was included in the president’s initiative regarding allocation of 15% quota for women in the parliament and called on the Joint Meeting Parties not to announce their reservation on that article of the initiative or taking negative stand regarding the women quota in the parliament.

The SAF mentioned it has received with interest the presidential initiative announced by president of the republic on 24 September 2007 whose 8th article included adoption of a positive allocation of 15% in parliament for women and to be stipulated in the election law.

(Read on …)

Yemen Observer:

The September 6th 2007 by-elections in Aden and Ibb were conducted in a generally peaceful and orderly manner with only a few violations, said the national Democratic Institute for International Affairs in a press release after the elections.

The statement congratulated the SCER for successfully administering the elections and noted that although there were some minor violations, they were not enough to jeopardize the overall validity of the election results.

(Read on …)

there ya go

Quotas or Closed Constituencies, either way

Yemen Times Political Parties rejected the Quota System as a solution to ensure women’s representation in the elections. As a consequence female activists threatened to retaliate by withdrawing from coming elections as candidates, but most importantly as voters.

SANA’A, September 9 — Yemeni women should not be influenced by western concepts, such as the quota system, and want to change their lives accordingly. This was the reaction of political parties to female activists demanding a quota of 30% in the coming parliamentary elections 2009. The debate was part of the Second Democracy Forum organized by Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights in cooperation with National Endowment Development. NGOs representatives and members of the Democracy Forum challenged the political parties’ that as they used women as voters, they must allow them a chance through positive discrimination as candidates.

“Resolving women issues should not be based on a Western concept instead it should be based on Islamic values stemming from the Islamic history,” said Abdulwahab Al-Anisi, Secretary General of the Al-Islah conservative party. He stressed on rejecting the ideas coming from the west as they create ethical ciaos and referred to how the situation for western women is miserable supporting his argument with the statistics of harassment and rape in the western countries.

Frustrated by this attitude, Intisar Sinan, director of the political component of the Woman National Committee said: “This is not acceptable at all. Let us try the quota system and if it does not work we’ll try something else.” She added that democracy as many other concepts have been adopted through western influence so why should the Quota System be any different.

(Read on …)

President Saleh to select nine judges who will comprise SCER. Are they joking? Getting ready for Ahmed?

Al-Sahwa

August 01,2007-The Joint Meeting Parties has rejected a decision endorsed by the government on Wednesday aiming to amend the election law.

The head of JMP supreme council, Yaseen Saeed Noaman, said the government’s decision is a breach of the dialogue principles between the JMP and GPC.

“The ruling party carries responsibility for any breakdown of the dialogue” Said he.

“The government decision is a clear-cut violation of the dialogue principles; forming of the supreme committee for election is an issue involved in dialogue agenda” he added.

Noman further said that the decision absolutely contradicts the European Union Election Observation Mission’s recommendations.

The cabinet had approved last Tuesday a draft to amend the articles 19, 21 and 22 of the election and referendum law and referred these amendments to the parliament.

According to amendments, the supreme committee for election and referendum will be formed from 9 judges chosen by the president from among 15 judges appointed by the Higher Judiciary Council.

No its all fine, just fine.

Almotamar.net - Yemen’s minister of legal affairs Dr Rashad al-Rassas said Wednesday the government has the right to approve any legal amendments and refer them to the parliament. He pointed out that approval of the government of a draft amendment to elections and referendum law that the government sent to parliament on Tuesday came on basis of agreement of principles signed by the political parties in June 2006.

Minister al-Rasas added to almotamar.net that drafting the amendment came in accordance with the agreement of principles among the political parties, affirming that the approach the legal end of the period of the Supreme Commission for election next November was the reason that urged the government to adopt the amendment.

The minister added that the amendment of the election law is within the frame of the government implementation of its programme and the platform of the president of the republic both of which contain amendments on many draft laws in including the elections law, adding that they governed by defined dates.

It is to be mentioned that the political parties represented in the dialogue have not abided by naming their representatives to the committee whish was agreed on undertaking drafting amendments of the electoral law except for the General People’s Congress that was the only party to name a representative in it.

The government approved on Tuesday a draft amendment of the elections and referendum law so that it includes the formation of the higher commission for elections composed of nine judges to be appointed by a residential decree.

AM:

almotamar.net - A parliamentary report committed the Election Supreme Commission to restore government cars from its former members who are appointed at new positions and also the restoration of pending obligations for the year 2002 whose value amounts to YR 378 million, most of which pertaining to parliamentary elections of 1997 and about YR 27 of which are personal consignments for officials and members of the commission.

While the report of the constitutional affairs committee praised reports of the monitoring apparatus for the years 2001/2002 on measure of the present election commission that settles 55% of those consignments it refused the latter’s justifications regarding the existence of security and tribal problems blocking the return of documents for settling the remaining of the pending assets.

The constitutional committee described understanding of the supreme commission of its financial and administrative independence as wrong and expressed its concern of not implementing a legal entity like the commission of provisions of the law as put by the legislator. It said independence does not mean employing the public property outside stipulations of the laws and regulations. The report also called for activation of internal monitoring inside the election commission in a way guaranteeing rectification of present failures.

Federotards. IFES does excellent work in democracy promotion.

NY:
The International Foundation for Elections System informed the General Peoples Congress (GPC) and the Joint Meeting Parties (JMPs) its intention to close its office in Sana’a by the end of January due to financial reasons.
The decision to close the office in Sana’a came after the financial support for the office from the United Nations and IFES headquarters in US had come to end and the two organizations refused to offer funds for new projects, a source in IFES told NewsYemen.
The source said that the letter IFES had sent to JMPs and GPC explained the story, preferring not to give more details for media at the moment.

There is a parliamentary election in 2009, or has everyone given up after the stunningly “free and fair” presidential election and the retribution that followed?

Asharq Al-Awsat Talks to Yemeni MP Sheikh Abdullah Bin-Hussein al-Ahmar

Sanaa, Asharq Al-Awsat- Sheikh Abdullah Bin-Hussein al-Ahmar, speaker of the Yemeni House of Representatives and leader of the Reform Party, the second largest party in Yemen, talks to Asharq al-Awsat on the latest domestic and regional issues.

The following is the full text of the interview:

(Asharq Al-Awsat) When will the Reform Party’s fourth general congress convene, and what issues will it address?

(Al-Ahmar) The fourth general congress of the Yemeni Congregation for Reform Party will convene in the second half of the month of Muharram (February), as for the issues it will address, they will be the domestic and international issues of the hour.

(Asharq Al-Awsat) What challenges face the Reform Party in this congress?

(Al-Ahmar) The challenges facing the Reform Party are the same organizational challenges that face all parties, but at a Yemeni domestic and internal level, they are the challenges that surface during the election, but we have overcome them. The most important challenge at present is the Palestinian people’s situation and their suffering at the hands of the Israeli occupation. The Reform Party takes interest in the Palestinian people’s cause because it is the cause of all Arabs and Muslims.

(Asharq Al-Awsat) Sixteen years have passed since the Reform Party declared itself a political party, what were the main stops along this journey, and what did the party gain from this experience?

(Al-Ahmar) The Yemeni Congregation for Reform has seen many significant stops that you are well aware of, and it no doubt benefited from the elements of this experience and from the endless hardships, obstacles, and embarrassments that came with these stops. We in the Reform Party are ready to deal with any future difficulties.

(Asharq Al-Awsat) What about the changes the congress will introduce to the Reform Party’s leadership?

(Al-Ahmar) If there is a need for change, well, the Reform Party and its cadres respect democracy, and matters within the party progress in a flexible and democratic manner.

(Asharq Al-Awsat) The fourth general congress will mark the end of the current leadership’s era, and there will be a need to elect a new leadership.

(Al-Ahmar) The current leadership of the Yemeni Congregation for Reform has played its role, and the door is again open to elections.

(Read on …)

These grievances go back to July of 2005 when the fuel subsidies were lifted and a new Wages and Salaries strategy enacted but never implemented.

Teachers are facing similar and worse problems: many have been transferred from their jobs to distant locations in retribution for the teachers strike in March and for participating in the electoral process as opposition activists. Those who refused to go are being threatened with termination, and salaries are being withheld. Considering the state apparatus is at the disposal of the ruling party, politicized employment is one means of repressing democratic progress.

NY

Doctors and Pharmacists are going to make a sit-in before the premises of the Ministers Council next Tuesday to protest the government’s delay to tackle their financial status, accusing the government of attempting to “take away their rights”.
They called upon president Saleh to implement his election program and fulfill his promises to improve the living and scientific standards of workers in health sector.
The syndicate decided to make such a protest because the second year since the Salary and Wages Law was issued is approaching the end while the government did not fulfill its promises it gave for doctors yet, said vice chairman of Doctors and Pharmacists Syndicate, Mohammad al-Wafi.
The syndicate said in a statement that the sit-in would be achieved under the slogan “Protecting our Rights is Respect to our Identity”. It said that doctors and pharmacists rights are confiscated and they should not keep voiceless.
“The government used to mock doctors profession and their rights so it refuses every time to implement laws and decisions related to doctors and pharmacists. We have sent hundreds of letters to the government to improve our conditions like judges and others, but in vain”, said the statement.
The government moves over law, over rights of people and over all values and standards, said the statement.

Update: Here’s more on 400 teachers whose salaries were suspended from al Motamar:

SANA’A- Local sources at Shara’ab district, Taiz governorate, said heads of education centers suspended the November month’s salaries of 400 teachers that amounted to 10 million riyals. Sources told almotamar.net that the education center has granted more than 400 teachers arbitrary dispatching decisions since the beginning of this year in return for illegal payments.
According to the sources, the education center appointed principals without referring them to the Education Office in the governorate, the procedures of which are arbitrary. The educational process in the district is subjected to trafficking, sources added.
The sources further noted a number of schools lack textbooks since the beginning of the academic year. A number of inspectors in the district appealed to the local councils to quickly interfere and release their salaries as well as investigate into the case.

Yet more YT: Teachers threaten to renew strike: (Read on …)