Ruling party and opposition dialogue fails [Archives:2006/922/Local News]

SANA'A, Feb. 19 ) It has been confirmed that dialogue between the ruling General People's Congress (GPC) and the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) has failed. The dialogue regarded guaranteeing fairness in upcoming presidential elections.

A JMP source said dialogue indeed had failed, having come to nothing after four sessions. He said the ruling party refused all opposition suggestions concerning fairness of elections to be held in seven months. Topping the suggestions was reframing the Supreme Committee for Elections and Referendum by adding three opposition members to balance ruling party and opposition representation.

The source added that the GPC refused a Supreme Committee suggestion to appoint three opposition representatives for committee membership. He said GPC refusal of the committee's proposition was due to the committee's refusal of its own suggestions. It also was because the ruling party was given more than 60 percent of electoral field committees.

Asked about the JMP's stance on presidential elections and defects in voter registers being prepared, the source said the committee and the ruling party will be responsible for any voter registration flaws. He added that the JMP will not participate in presidential elections unless fairness is guaranteed and opposition candidates have the same chances as those of the ruling party.

For its part, the ruling party accused the opposition of extortion, claiming opposition adopted impractical proposals to cover its failure to compete in presidential elections.

A General Secretariat “Political Bureau” source stated, “The JMP wants to extort us. At the beginning of dialogue, its proposals were to have equal dividends in field committees that check voter registers. It changed that to reframing the committee itself by adding three JMP representatives. It is clear that it wants to cover its failure to contest upcoming presidential elections.”

The ruling party and the opposition initiated dialogue at the beginning of this year on guaranteeing fairness in presidential elections and equally dividing election committees with the GPC.
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