Al-Wahdawi [Archives:2009/1226/Press Review]
Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009
Top Stories
– JMP condemns hysteric official campaign against its leaders
– Doctors hold sit-in in front of presidential palace in protest against colleague's assault
– Ubad begins his electoral campaign by hosting Islamic Herald Amro Khalid
In a step, considered to be the strangest of its kind in the context of campaigning ahead of general elections, Minister of Youths and Sport Hamoud Ubad decided to host Islamic Herald Amro Khalid and declare a symposium in solidarity with the people of Gazza in electoral constituency 194 in Dhamar City, the website reported.
It added that the “early campaign” cars, which drove under the guise of promoting the symposium in solidarity with Gazza, moved only on the main streets and other feeder roads located within the constituency, and didn't reach other streets, which are part of the city since they are administratively affiliated with another constituency.
According to the website's reporter, the running cars continuously confirmed that the Islamic herald was hosted under the kind patronage of Hamoud Ubad to allegedly stand in solidarity with Gazza.
The solidarity function was approved to be organized by the resigning minister a few days ago at the city's sporting stadium, which is located within the constituency where Ubad is planning to run for its seat in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Some of the potential candidates from the ruling party, who are rivaling Ubad, labeled the action as a an early campaigning practiced by Ubad in an attempt to exploit the Gazza Cause and win feelings of the constituency citizens so that they can vote for him in the upcoming elections.
Those parliamentary hopefuls also denounced Ubad's early movement for the sake of propagating himself in the local community and gaining popularity by alleged and falsified activities misleading citizens.
Hamoud Ubad, who occupied the post of Religious Endowment and Guidance Minister before being appointed Minister of Youth and Sports, is famous for his extremist practices toward Zaidism during the four-year fighting between the government and Houthis in Sa'ada and other governorates. Ubad is betting to win citizens' vote in the targeted constituency.
The man has intense relation with the Islah party since he quit the opposition party and joined GPC late in the 1980s after the Islamic-oriented party expended hard efforts in preparing and educating Ubad and helping him acquire oratory skills, which subsequently helped him occupy prestigious positions in the ruling party's government.
The most prominent parliamentary hopefuls, expected to contest with Ubad, are GPC Chairman in the governorate Mohammed Al-Alwani, Assistant Deputy Governor of Dhamar Abdulkarim Dha'afan and Manager of Amran Govenroate's Civil Service Office, who is originally from the same constituency, Abdulqader Al-Sofi, plus the GPC Chairman in the constituency.
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[archive-e:1226-v:16-y:2009-d:2009-01-19-p:press]
