Based on presidential directives to release political detainees,Parliament likely to approve Election Law amendments, choose SCER candidate [Archives:2008/1182/Front Page]
Aqeel Al-Halali
For The Yemen Times
SANA'A, Aug. 18 ) The Yemeni Parliament is likely to approve today the Public Election Law amendment project that the Yemeni government presented for the second time late last month.
The government project includes a complete amendment of 23 items, in addition to eight clauses in another seven items in the Election Law, based on European Union recommendations following the most recent presidential election in September 2006 and a principle agreement Yemen's political parties signed in June 2006.
Yesterday, Parliament delayed voting on the Election Law amendment until today, giving the Joint Meeting Parties a 24-hour respite to announce their candidates for the Supreme Commission for Election and Referendum.
The delay seeks to enable the JMP to choose a list of 15 candidates, nine of whom will be selected by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, to succeed past members of the commission, which was invalidated last November.
Concerning the reasons for Parliament's third suspension of the amendment project, Ali Abu Hilaiqah, head of Parliament's Constitutional Committee, told the Yemen Times that members of Parliament agreed not to vote on the amendment project until all political parties announce their candidates for SCER membership.
Noting that the JMP's parliamentary blocs did not announce their candidates yesterday, Al-Hilaiqah commented, “This caused chaos in Parliament, which was about to cancel its session.” In fact, the parliamentary bloc of the General People's Congress, which holds 229 of 301 seats in Parliament, had begun leaving the session, threatening to approve the previous Election Law.
Abu Helaiqah reported that the head of Islah Party's parliamentary bloc, Abdulrahman Ba Fadhl, undertook that the JMP announce their candidates for SCER membership today, further “denying any agreement between the GPC and the JMP concerning SCER seats.”
Abu Hilaiqah explained that the Yemeni Parliament will approve 15 candidates selected from among all of the political parties, noting that “President Saleh has the utmost authority to choose whomever he wishes from the list.”
Regarding presidential directives to release political detainees, Abu Hilaiqah confirmed that President Saleh has given directives to release those political detainees not proven to be involved in any major or criminal crimes, as well as those whom judicial verdicts have found not guilty. However, he refused to give the names of those political detainees included in the presidential amnesty.
MP Sultan Al-Atwani, head of the JMP-affiliated Nasserite parliamentary bloc, stressed the necessity of executing the president's “earnest and honest” directives. He stated that no one could imagine holding elections next April “while detainees remain in detention locations,” pointing out that the “atmosphere should be convenient to conduct free and credible elections.”
In a press statement, Al-Atwani accused “those within the government and its ruling party who are attempting to hinder the execution of the president's directives.”
According to JMP sources, the president's amnesty includes the release of journalist Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani and popular singer Fahd Al-Qarni, who were sentenced to six years and 18 months, respectively.
The presidential directive also includes releasing detainees and those still being prosecuted in the courts on charges of instigating secession of the south from the rest of the country.
JMP parliamentary blocs agreed on the law's amendments following the president's directives to release political detainees during a recent meeting between the two sides in Sana'a.
However, the JMP stipulated that its approval of the Election Law amendments depends upon the release of political detainees.
——
[archive-e:1182-v:16-y:2008-d:2008-08-18-p:front]
