Activities of Children’s Parliament for 2004 announced [Archives:2004/704/Local News]

Ismail Al-Ghabiri
Plans have been announced to hold the upcoming elections for the Children's Parliament in the Republic of Yemen with a total number of voters amounting to 30,000. The elections are to be held from 28 February 2004 to 27 April 2004 during which children shall register themselves, declare their election programs, and present their candidates.
The first session of the parliament shall be 15 days following announcement of the results.
The elections of the Children's Parliament for the year 2004 is supposed to cover all the Republic as per population density and the number of constituencies. The parliament's tenure shall be two years and the allowed number of elected children parliamentarians will be specified.
The Children's Parliament, which is copied out from a regular French practice, was evolved out of the idea that the available democratic margin should be utilized so that children could learn how to practice their rights to vote by electing whom they see best fit to represent them. The project targeted preliminary class students.
The project started in 2000 by allowing 20,000 children to participate in the election of a parliament constituted of 31 children of both sexes. The first session was held on 27 April 2000. The parliament's most important activities were meeting high-ranking officials, and in the forefront was the President of the Republic.
Disregarding the negativities, the experience was considered successful by many interested people.
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