Thursday, February 3, 2011

Protests put end to Yemeni president's intentions for re-election

The pressures of the opposition Yemeni and today thousands of demonstrators managed to end the aspirations to perpetuate the power of the president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who announced resignation to extend its mandate. In a speech to parliament, the Yemeni president said that "freeze the constitutional reforms (which would allow for re-election) in accordance with the requirement of the public interest" in the midst of opposition protests against his regime.

"No to extension of the mandate, not the heritage," Saleh said, referring to the amendments to the Constitution wanted to introduce to not limit the number of presidential terms and to facilitate access to the power of his son Ahmed. The Yemeni Constitution, which has been amended twice since the country's unification in 1990, only allows the president to stand for two terms, but Parliament had approved last January 1st interim changes to repeal these provisions.

With the freezing of these reforms, which took to the streets on Thursday to tens of thousands of people to protest, Saleh can no longer stand as a candidate in presidential elections scheduled for 2013. Yemeni opposition has called for tomorrow a day of protests, dubbed "day of rage", which, initially, was to take place in Tahrir Square (Liberation in Arabic) in the center of the capital, but at final will be held on the campus of the University of Sana'a.

It was decided to change the location after hundreds of supporters of Saleh occupied Tahrir Square today to disrupt the protests, reported the platform "shared meeting, which brings together the five opposition parties. As for that meeting, the Yemeni president warned the opposition against organized violent demonstrations that cause "chaos and destruction" and urged them to participate in a national unity government.

"I call on the brothers (opposition) to freeze the marches and protests," said Saleh, and said that if chaos comes "Yemeni citizens have a legitimate right to defend their property and their dignity." "What happens in Egypt and Tunisia is chaos and when it bursts it is difficult to control it," Saleh said, referring to the recent riots in Arab countries have caused dozens of deaths, brought down the government and in the case of Tunisia, the overthrow of President Ben Ali.

This speech to Parliament was considered a "positive step" but insufficient to quell the demonstrations by the opposition Yemeni Mohamed al Saadi, deputy general secretary of the Islamic Reform Party, the main opposition Yemeni and led the protests. Al Saadi announced that "the opposition would continue its protests in Sana'a and other provinces, because they want to" send a peaceful message to the president to listen to our demands.

" The opposition parties called on Saleh to implement an agreement signed in February 2009, which was sponsored by the European Union (EU), which is intended to ensure free and fair elections by the electoral law reform. Saleh was the first president of North Yemen in 1978 and took over the Presidency of the Republic of Yemen after unification, a post he was re-elected in 1999 and 2006.

In his speech to Parliament today, the Yemeni president also said it would open a dialogue with the opposition, which was prepared by a committee of four, headed by the vice-president, Abdarabu Mansur Hadi. He also said it will delay parliamentary elections, scheduled for next April, as demanded by opposition groups, who report irregularities in voter registration.

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