SIGNS OF ISLAH’s WITHDRAWAL [Archives:2001/08/Front Page]

Islah, the second largest party in Yemen, yesterday threatened its withdrawal from the elections scheduled for tomorrow February 20. This could potentially cause the collapse of the elections and the referendum. 
“We are about to decide whether to withdraw from the elections or not, due to the many violations carried out against us by the SEC during the last few days. If we are to withdraw, we will definitely start with Sanaa, Mahweet, Taiz, Al-Mahara, and Abyan.” said a prominent member of Islah in justifying the reasons for withdrawal. According to Islah’s claims, the names of 74 of their candidates were intentionally dropped from the candidate lists. Islah’s leader, Abdullah bin Hussein Al-Ahmar openly accused the PGC of violations that intend to diminish the chance of Islah candidates in the local council elections, which may result in the opposition’s decision to boycott both the local and upcoming parliamentary elections. Unofficial sources in Islah also stated that the overall stand regarding the amendments seems to be leaning towards refusal. 
It has become evident that within the last few days, many dangerous cracks within Islah have become visible, particularly between the tribal sector led by Al-Ahmar and the religious sector which has public support. 
1,000 tribesmen of Hamdan gathered at the SEC building in Sanaa protesting the unjust distribution of ballot boxes in Hamdan, where several armed confrontations led to the disruption of the electoral committee’s operations. In case of Islah’s withdrawal an extremely low turnout could sabotage the elections.
——
[archive-e:08-v:2001-y:2001-d:2001-02-19-p:./2001/iss08/front.htm]