Opposition warns of unconstitutional elections [Archives:2006/949/Front Page]
Adel Al-Khawlani
SANA'A, May 24 ) Responding to a Supreme Commission for Elections and Referendum (SCER) letter, the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) warned against an electoral process lacking constitutionality due to continued voting fraud. The parties renewed their refusal to participate in election management committees and accused the SCER of insisting on constitutional violations.
In a statement circulated this week, the JMP said SCER actions have exposed the democratic process and elections impartiality to risk. The statement mentioned that the SCER's May 17 letter confirms that the highest election authority makes decisions and deals with parties according to partisan directives.
“The letter's date, content and demands uncover risky infringements within the SCER, which approves election management committee standards contrary to the law,” the JMP stated, “The commission undervalues the significance of forming fair electoral committees and sets options that never lead to impartial and free elections.”
The JMP statement warned of a political regime lacking legitimacy and constitutionality after upcoming presidential and local polls because of recurring voter registration fraud. It holds authorities accountable for such violations.
The JMP insisted on rapid implementation of legal, judicial, political and administrative guarantees it announced in recent days. Opposition allies hold SCER members accountable for continued voting fraud and legal violations.
An official JMP source affirmed that opposition leaders received a letter last week demanding they join a discussion on nominating committees due to administer the electoral process. The leaders considered the letter contradictory to the JMP's stance of viewing the SCER as lacking constitutionality.
The SCER acknowledged that it discovered various types of voter registration fraud, including registering 53,000 minors who have not attained legal voting age.
In a SCER press conference organized to comment on a UNDP report on the electoral registration process, Mohamed Al-Sayyani, head of the SCER's Technical Affairs department, said his commission discovered such fraud by comparing voters' recorded ages with their photos. He said some registration committees, especially in Shabwa, Marib, Hajjah and Amran, did not abide by registration standards and elections law.
Al-Sayyani pointed out that many registered voters have similar names, as there are approximately two million Yemenis with identical names. “So we cannot judge whether those names are repeated except by checking personal documents,” the SCER Technical Affairs department added.
Abdu Al-Janadi, the SCER's Media & Awareness head, stated that some voter registration committees complained that tribesmen and some political party members have forced them to register underage minors.
“Underage minors included in voter registries will be referred to Prosecution, not for punishment, but for investigation to learn the bodies behind their registration,” Al-Janadi noted.
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