Gulf | Yemen

Opposition cries foul over poll panel

The three main opposition parties in Yemen have refused to accept a new election panel, voted in by the majority of the ruling group in parliament.

  • By Nasser Arrabyee, Correspondent
  • Published: 23:54 September 1, 2008
  • Gulf News

Sana'a: The three main opposition parties in Yemen have refused to accept a new election panel, voted in by the majority of the ruling group in parliament.

In a press conference on Sunday, the opposition alliance, which includes Islamists, Socialists, and Nasserites, said the formation of the Supreme Committee of Elections and Referendum (SCER) without their participation went against the spirit of democracy.

Six members of the SCER (five from the ruling party and one dissenter from the Socialists) took oath on Saturday and launched preparations for parliamentary polls scheduled for April 2009. Three opposition members nominated to the SCER (two Islamists and one Nasserite) kept away from the ceremony after their parties to refused accept the panel's legitimacy.

The opposition parties, however, chose to avoid a direct reply on whether they intended to boycott the elections.

"We will not participate in the elections in line with the conditions of the ruling party, and we will not take a decision to boycott the polls in response to the actions of the ruling party," said Abdul Wahab Al Ansi, secretary general of the largest opposition Islamist party, Islah, and also the chairman of the Supreme Council of the opposition alliance.

The ruling party, however, said it expected polls to take place on schedule.

"Even if they boycott the elections, the General People's Congress [GPC] will stand by its responsibility to hold the elections as per set schedules, because elections are the people's chance to ensure a peaceful transfer of power," Tarek Al Shami, spokesperson of the ruling party, told Gulf News.

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