Opposition makes proposal to ensure fair polls [Archives:2006/927/Front Page]
Yasser Al-Mayasi
SANA'A, March 7 ) Yemeni opposition parties confirmed at a Tuesday press conference that they have a proposal to ensure free and fair elections, saying such proposal is due to prevent any poll-related violations as seen in previous parliamentary, local and legislative elections.
Opposition parties ascertained the proposal will ensure conducting free elections with more transparency and integrity by applying standard electoral measures. They emphasized the need to conduct local and presidential elections on time; and, to ensure this, the Supreme Commission for Elections and Referendum (SCER) must be reshuffled.
According to the opposition, SCER members must be held accountable for violations they committed and to which they confessed. The violations have been registered in international reports, as well as in Yemeni courts, leading politicians to lose confidence in the SCER, which they say became partial to the ruling party, having a majority of its members.
According to the opposition, the SCER implements the ruling party's directives at the expense of abiding by law and the Constitution.
The Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) said their proposal to ensure free and fair elections focuses on six points, the first of which is reforming election management. This point embodies the constitutional principle of ensuring independent and neutral election management and approving a legal mechanism to reshuffle the SCER according to transparency and independent standards.
Second is electoral system reform. This point aims to apply the representation percentage in lieu of parliamentary elections to expand political participation, establish plurality and increase women's representation. It also helps interpret citizen votes and ensure political and social groups' representation in Parliament.
The third point is media neutrality focused on forming a national media council to play an integral role and employ the media in serving society. This point seeks to set measures to ensure media neutrality so as not to be exploited by a particular party, as well as cancel the Ministry of Information.
Points four and five concentrate on neutrality regarding government jobs, public money and judicial guarantees. The latter emphasizes the need to form a higher national authority from lawmakers to prevent any electoral law violations.
The sixth point further explains political guarantees, recommending issuing a political declaration to tackle war consequences and conflicts. It stresses a culture of dialogue and forgiveness, lifting restrictions on activities of opposition parties and civil community organizations, as well as paying financial allocations to political parties and organizations according to law.
Opposition representatives revealed at the press conference that the ruling party insisted on forming subordinate election committees from its members and according to votes it gained in 2003 elections. They said the ruling party withdrew from the conference, rejecting any talk of reforms or infringements in the SCER.
Mohamed Qahtan, head of the Islah political unit, stated that every party and individual must participate in the poll to ensure a fair vote with high transparency and integrity. He pointed out that the opposition insists its demands concerning election transparency will make an important change in Yemen's political life. He added that the opposition will work by all means to ensure free and fair polls and will resort to the judiciary if its demands remain unmet.
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