Questions on the elections committee [Archives:2006/923/Opinion]
By: Abdulrrahim Muhsin
Article No. 159 of the 2001 Constitution stipulates that general elections be run and monitored by a higher independent and neutral committee. The law specifies the number of commission members, requirements they must meet and the manner of their nomination and appointment. The law also specifies commission specializations and remits to enable it to perform its tasks in an ideal way.
Article No. 19 of Law No. 13 issued in 2001concerning general elections and referendum stipulates that the Supreme Commission for Elections and Referendum (SCER) must consist of seven members. The President of the Republic must appoint these members from a list of 15 candidates nominated by Parliament and meeting legal requirements.
The commission's general secretariat and its provincial branches were established under this law. By definition, such general secretariat is the commission's administrative, financial and technical system.
Commission formation and its tasks are explained in Articles No. 19-36 of the law, which contains an executive bylaw concerning the security tasks of the commission and the operation room.
The law ensures a membership period of six calendar years beginning from the date of appointment. This period can be longer in compliance with the extending terms of Parliament and the President of the Republic, as well as the Shoura Council, which is appointed by the President and granted the power of Parliament.
The 2001 legislation came in harmony with the first constitutional coup in 1994 and with the 1996 legal coup which still continues to fulfill demands of the totalitarian regime in the Republic of Yemen. According to Law No. 13 provisions, the seven committee members cannot be sacked at once, but they can be fired one-by-one under judicial ruling.
Despite approving plurality in 1990, the Parties' 1991 Law No. 66 and Elections laws No. 41, 27 and 23 issued in 1992, 1996 and 2001 respectively, none of these laws stipulates supporting the relative list. This problem was presented for discussion after 2001 and still is under discussion. Political parties and organizations never followed up the problem's imposition on the law through adopting joint parliamentary blocs to amend the Elections Law.
It is noteworthy that Law No. 13 granted the SCER a special staff appointed by republican decree, as well as powers of the civil service and finance ministries.
Based on 2001 legislation, one can say the following:
First, the law never granted political parties and organizations legitimacy to share SCER membership, but rather set a condition freezing partisan activities of any SCER member in Article 21-W.
Second, Article No. 25-A of the law confessed to parties' membership shares in supervisory, main and subordinate committees. It stated, “Those who do not perform their tasks well will be replaced by members of the same party.”
Third, the President of the Republic is the one who issues the decision to appoint or fire any SCER member. Since the President of the Republic of Yemen is a party chairman, his decisions cannot be neutral and moreover, they may be in favor of his party.
Fourth, the Elections Law does not include political parties and organizations in the chapter on terms, definitions and the right to the elections. So, a clause in Article No. 21 seems to violate and contradict what is legislative. This led the three main parties to take an illegal path.
The fifth point is that as Parliament selects the SCER under Article No. 19, the SCER should enjoy complete independence and neutrality and its decisions must be issued publicly. No party is allowed to intervene in SCER affairs, functions and remits or limit its power. In this case, Parliament presents a list of 15 candidates to the President of the Republic who has chaired the ruling party for 24 years: eight years before reunification and 16 years after it. Below is a list of questions to help us elaborate on the matter:
1) Is the President of the Republic the only one who presents the candidate list to Parliament for voting, after which it is to be returned to him once again?
2) Does the President of the Republic demand leaders of the main parties appoint representatives for them without adding his party members to the list? Consequently, this list will be forwarded to Parliament.
3) Is the Prime Minister the only one responsible for presenting the list, based on committee nomination, of political parties and organizations to the President of the Republic, who in turn will forward it to Parliament, or does the Prime Minister present it to Parliament directly?
4) With 301 MPs, does Parliament present the list through its board, parliamentary blocs or the recommendations mechanism?
The issue of selecting SCER members remains mysterious since local public opinion does not know how to select candidates for the commission race. Since 1993 elections, only the three main parties have occupied SCER posts: the ruling party, Islah and the Yemeni Socialist Party, which was ruled out in 1997 and 1999 elections. The issue still is misleading since it says the SCER is independent and neutral, while it is in fact administratively and politically controlled by the ruling party.
The ruling party occupies five SCER seats, in addition to the security committee seat and commission offices in 21 governorates, while the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) have two seats, which have no influence on the administrative and security system. Additionally, the SCER has no guarantee to prevent military elements from controlling its membership, as membership requirements do not ban anyone affiliated with military, security or intelligence authorities from being a SCER member.
Lack of such a requirement opens the door for job duality in SCER membership, the most evident example being the current SCER chairman.
Abdulrrahim Muhsin is a Yemeni journalist and opposition activist. Established the anti-regime movement called “Irhalo” which means get out. He was a former media person of the presidency office until he was dismissed recently.
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[archive-e:923-v:14-y:2006-d:2006-02-23-p:opinion]
