Opposition Coordination Council Unites [Archives:2001/03/Front Page]

In a step, which is the first of its kind, the Opposition Supreme Coordination Council has reached an agreement to take a unified stand in regard to the upcoming local council elections scheduled for February 20, 2001.
The council expressed the need to unite in order to compete with the two strongest parties, PGC and Islah, and to ensure some seats for the opposition in the local council to be elected. It also openly stated that it would reject the constitutional amendments and call upon the public to say NO in the referendum to be conducted simultaneously with the local elections.
It is worth mentioning that the Opposition Coordination Council took a unified stand in 1999 pertaining to the presidential elections. However, the Parliament did not endorse the candidate nominated by the council, Ali Saleh Obad (Moqbil), causing the council to boycott the elections.
Observers view this move as outstanding and promising since the parliamentary elections of 1993. If it stands the test of time, it will be a turning point in the political arena, observers say.
In a meeting held last Wednesday, the Islah Party announced that it would participate in the local elections. This decision was confirmed after President Ali Abdullah Saleh attended the Islah annual congress in which he stated that both parties had started a strategic partnership that must continue. The final decision of participating alone in the elections was taken in the extraordinary meeting held on January 3, 2001. The Islah Party, however, did not state clearly its stand in regard to the constitutional amendments.

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