Al-Mithaq [Archives:2003/634/Press Review]

28 April 2003
Main headlines:rn
– Parliamentary elections: strong competition, large turnout and discipline rn
– Vote counting indicators point to GPC advancern
– President Saleh: We want all parties represented in the parliament,rn
– Democratic approach prevents conspiracies against rulers and peoplesrn
– El-Eryani: Yemeni voter has absolute freedom in choosing the candidatern
– SCER: Small incidents accompanied the polling operation. rn
Columnist Dr Abdulaziz al-Maqaleh thinks perhaps the Yemenis were luckier than their other Arab brethren in other countries during these critical moments in history. He says we have found the river of elections to wash with its water our souls and agonies resulting from the tragedy that befell the sisterly country Iraq. The elections have consumed our time in their preparation, predicting their results and taking part in meetings and mass festivals. Our exceptional luck has made us preoccupied by the elections and turn our sights towards the future and democracy as it is one of the ways to salvage ourselves from the problems suffered by the countries whose peoples and regimes live in different worlds. The democracy which I mean is not that of the American version nor did it come to appease its furious bull. It is the democracy that came to satisfy aspirations of the people and in application of the constitution principles and goals of the national struggle movement fixed since the forties. If this is the third attempt in the field of embodying the Yemeni parliamentary experiment since the unification, tens of Arab and friendly observers see in it an advanced step exceeding the previous experiments especially in regards preparation, response and rationality of competition. Some predict that these elections would result in a distinguished parliament in which all political spectra would take part.
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