JMP accuses government of avoiding reform [Archives:2006/934/Front Page]
Adel Al-Khawlani
SANA'A, April 1 ) Yemen's Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) accused the government of avoiding political reform and pushing national dialogue – underway for more than a week – to an impasse.
Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP) Secretary-General Yasin Sa'eed Nu'man alleged that the government is seeking to corner opposition parties by placing before them two choices: a political crisis or accepting deals and shady settlements that do not meet citizens' aspirations for political change.
“Both choices are unacceptable,” Nu'man told reporters at a Sana'a press conference last week, accusing the ruling General People's Congress (GPC) of driving dialogue to an impasse. He said there was nothing in the dialogue indicating an official tendency or directions by authorities to make upcoming presidential elections the first step toward political reform.
For his part, Abdulwahab Al-Anisi, Deputy Secretary-General of the opposition Islah Party, stressed that September's presidential elections “are the key to political reform.” He charged that futile dialogue with the GPC is a waste of time and “a trap set for the opposition.”
However, Al-Anisi stressed that the opposition is aware of the government's manipulations “but believes in dialogue and cannot choose anything else, since it has always called for it.”
Sultan Al-Atwani, Nasserite Unionist Popular Party Secretary-General, called for exerting pressure on authorities to reform electoral committees and administration and abort attempts to conduct elections in form only and without substance.
According to the JMP, political reform is the key to initiating and achieving reform in other fields. Through political reform, a nation can develop. An effective and determined national will can further reforms in other social development sectors. For example, economic reform is preconditioned by political reform.
Having learned from Yemen's historical experience, the JMP states that the parliamentary system, rather than the current one, will be a decisive step in achieving political reform and facilitating implementing reforms in other fields.
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As opposed to “one-person rule,” the parliamentary system will help alleviate suffering, which has been a historical problem for Yemenis. Getting rid of one-person rule has been a demand for reforming Yemen's national movement since the 1930s, the JMP said in a statement. The current system has led to concentration of power in the president's hands, thereby edging out institutions' role and making corruption rampant in all government administrative units.
Opposition leaders commented that the current governmental system has become an instrument to monopolize, take control of power and then bequeath it to sons. Such a system forms the best cover for corrupt officials to practice illegal earning while chaos spreads nationwide at the expense of the rule of law.
As part of their efforts to conduct free and fair local and presidential elections, opposition parties met with President Ali Abdullah Saleh last Saturday, reaching an agreement to form a legal committee to discuss Supreme Commission for Elections and Referendum (SCER) violations.
During the meeting, Saleh emphasized the need to conduct free and fair elections, Mohamed Al-Sabri, Secretary-General of the Nasserite Organization's Political Unit, said in a statement to Al-Sahwah Net.
Al-Sabri pointed out that the JMP revealed its proposal to ensure free and fair local and presidential elections and suggested forming a committee from lawyers and judges to discuss SCER violations.
Saleh and opposition leaders discussed political guarantees and procedures to manipulate them, agreeing to postpone other issues necessitating constitutional amendment to future meetings.
Al-Sabri mentioned that opposition parties agreed to dialogue with the GPC on a mechanism to conduct free and fair local and presidential polls, but such dialogue's time was unspecified.
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