Al-Mithaq [Archives:2008/1184/Press Review]
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Top Stories
– GPC media personnel urge other journalists to abide by rules of professionalism, enhance democracy
– Government advises opposition parties to stop creating political crises
– It is the fault of those who neither learn nor understand, President Saleh says
Advising party-affiliated media outlets to care about authenticity and not to harm the unity, President Ali Abdullah Saleh confirmed the important role of media institutions, and ministries of education and endowment & guidance in enlightening and educating society, the website reported.
He urged partisan media to care about accuracy and authenticity of information they convey to the readership and protect unity, pointing out that unity is “Our Ship” and 'we have to sail by it to the safety shore.'
This came during a speech he gave Tuesday at the Broad Media Consultative Meeting, which was organized by Sector of Media and Culture at the General People Congress and attended by media personnel, intellectuals, politicians and educated people from the various Yemeni governorates.
The website quoted Saleh as saying, “We have no problem with the previous election law. We legislated this law with the opposition, and we and they are all partners in the election law. They, however, insisted on amending the law and we responded to their demand.”
He added, “We continued to amend the law for two months until we reach the final version of the amended the law. The opposition parties are supposed to have voted for the law and submit a list of their candidates for the Supreme Commission for Election and Referendum (SCER). Regretfully, they did not attend the Parliament sitting, assigned for this purpose, nor did they name their candidates for SCER membership.”
Saleh clarified that Parliament was compelled to vote for the current election law, placed in effect without amendments, by the majority of votes. He indicated that each political party is entitled to work hard for winning the majority of votes, but not to fear others.
He continued that opposition parties have the right to declare their objection under democracy that grants them the right to participate in politics, refrain and protest as this is a legal right.
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