New candidate for Yemen’s presidency [Archives:2005/896/Front Page]

SANA'A- Nov. 16- Former Yemeni Deputy President Dr. Abdurrahman al-Baidhani announced that he is running for presidency at the next elections in September.

Al-Beidani said in a statement to Ray News website of opposition al-Rabita Party that he decided to run for elections after President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced he does not seek a new mandate.

Al-Baidani called on the Yemeni people to back him “in order to work together to alleviate the sufferings of the people and start real economic development and renaissance.”

Al-Baidani's candidacy raised to three the number of considerable candidates vying for the top post, including Abdullah al-Numan and Abdullah al-Hakimi.

The three are running as independents at a time the Yemeni opposition coalition of eight parties called the “Joint Opposition Meeting Parties” has not named any candidate.

In his address, al-Baidani lashed out at the government, which he accused of corruption and failure to achieve any of the economic and political reforms it had promised.

“The reason behind the failure of the successive governments is lack of experience in achieving renaissance and mismanagement,” he said.

He cautioned that the country had become a “time bomb” that can explode at any moment due to rampant poverty, unless “drastic and immediate reforms are introduced.”

In anther development, a Yemeni member of parliament asked for questioning Interior Minister Rashad al-Alimi over what he called systematic harassment of journalists and violation of public liberties.

MP Zakaria Zakari charged that there is a deliberate campaign targeting journalists aimed at undermining freedoms. Several journalists in Yemen have been recently arrested, kidnapped and attacked over writings that criticized rampant corruption in the government.
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