22,626 Candidates for Local Elections [Archives:2001/06/Local News]

The Supreme Elections Committee(SEC) stated that the total number of local election candidates has soared to 22,626. There are 2169 candidates in the governorate council elections , 12 of whom are women, while in the district council elections the number of candidates has reached 20,487, 129 of whom are women.
The governorate of Ibb is first in terms of the number of candidates, as the number of candidates for district elections is 2,657 including one woman while for governorate elections it is 233 including one woman. Meanwhile, Al-Mahra has got the lowest number of candidates, Amran the second lowest, Hadhramaut the third and Taiz the fourth. Among 20 governorates, only nine of them have female candidates. However, Aden is first in terms of having a high number of female candidates; 5 for governorate elections and 67 for district elections. This gives Aden 50% of all female candidates throughout Yemen.
However, the SEC stated that it would extend the period for receiving candidates applications particularly in those areas where the number of candidates does not meet requirements. A statement in this regard will be made later.
The candidates election campaigns will kick off today and last until 18th of February, while the education programs concerning the elections conducted by some NGOs, were wound up yesterday.
The SEC singled out 350 voting cards for each male voting box and 250 cards for each female voting box and around 60, 000 security men to oversee protective measures on voting day.
It seems the electoral battle between the political parties has started. The PGC has claimed that around 250 members of Islah have resigned and joined the PGC in Al-Dale. It also stated that Islah has started coordinating with Yemeni Socialist Party(YSP) which for its part said that it did not trust Islah, an old ally of PGC. Islah has stated that it faces a real challenge, represented by the corruption of the PGC.

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