Few Days after the President’s Press Conference Presidential Campaign Started [Archives:1999/35/Front Page]

Last Saturday marked the official start of the presidential campaign. Each of the two presidential candidates has only 23 days for the ceremonies, visits, conferences, and other public appearances. Within this limited period, each candidate is supposed to have covered 14 governorates. While the electoral campaign of President Saleh had already started, the situation of the unfamiliar candidate, Najeeb Qahtan Al-Shaabi seemed to be quite different. 
In an interview with Yemen Times, the Head of the Presidential Campaign Committee of Al-Shaabi, Dr. Saadeddin Taleb stated, “We have not yet started our campaign. We cannot afford the expenses of the campaign with the YR 15 million given to us by the Supreme Election Committee.”
On the other hand, the press conference of President Saleh held last Monday ignited a lot of reactions from local and foreign sectors in Yemen and in the world, especially from the Supreme Opposition Coordination Council which released a strong press statement against the president. During his press conference, the president had shown no mercy in criticizing the opposition. He went on in bringing some extremely tough statements against both the Socialist and Nasserite parties, of course avoiding the Islah party, which had approved him as its presidential candidate. He pointed his finger at the kidnappers from Al Jabr tribe, who abducted the two French who are still captive. He called them “traitors and murderers”. The president also criticized some opposition newspapers as well. Complete coverage of the conference & responses

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