Yemen Arena Political Boiling Point to Win Referendum Battle [Archives:2000/48/Reportage]

Yemens political atmospheres are overcast with a state of acute dispute over the battle of constitutional amendments recently sanctioned by the Parliament despite strong opposition and criticism the proposals had been facing in the past few months. Opposition political parties and organizations are now at witss end following the agreement between the ruling party, Peoples General Congress (PGC) and Yemeni Congregation for Reform (Islah) party that both voted at the parliament in favor of the proposed draft constitutional amendments. The amendment proposals had been presented by the president are considered as a step backward from the democratic approach in the country.
These developments came as a product of a political deal struck between the ruling party and leaders of Islah and that has effected a deep split between the opponents and proponents of constitutional amendments. Over the past few months the political arena of Yemen has been a scene of acute political wrangle ended in favor of the ruling party after it had managed to convince Islah leadership by offering the latter some concessions.
The parties grouped in the supreme coordination council, including moderate leftist, nationalist and Islamic parties, now think they have to fight a heated political battle against both the PGC and Islah over referendum.
Political atmospheres seem to be very tense between the ruling party and those of the opposition coordination council led by the Socialist. But opposition circles emphasize that the battle is not over yet, particularly that the most important phase regarding the amendments is that of referendum which will reveal the size of political forces map. Bases and supporters of Islah and PGC have shown dissatisfaction with the amendments because they deem them as tightening the grip on the peaceful transfer of power.
Islah Wins some Gains
Opposition parties, including Islah, had sent a joint letter to the president urging him to withdraw the proposal of constitutional amendments. However, the Islah has succeeded in its political tactics. It has manoeuvred by announcing its refusal of the amendments along with other opposition parties in a bid to exercise pressure on the PGC to get some of the concessions it wanted in order to get some political interests at the expense of other opposition parties.
It seems therefore that Yemeni opposition parties upcoming battle of referendum will a pitched one, but as it is mostly expected would be in favor of the ruling and Islah parties. This supposition is based on the fact that both of them possess very large base of supporters and are in possession of mass media and good finance, a matter that would facilitate their movement among the public.
The Opposition Opinion
Although the two leaderships of the PGC and Islah have confused the other parties by voting in favor of the constitutional amendments, the socialist party, the Nasserite organization, the Baath party, Union of Popular Forces party, and Al Haq party doe expect to manage to mobilize the public opinion in an effort to abort the amendments in the coming referendum. By the said amendments, these parties consider the PGC as jeopardizing the democratic experiment, political pluralism, respect of human rights and press freedom. They argue that the new authorities granted to the president and the restraints imposed on civil and political rights would expose all the above gains to a setback. It is predicted that the coming weeks and months would witness complicated and tense atmospheres of political relations owing to more seriousness of the battle among the political parties and their bid to mustering the citizens in the referendum in favor or against the constitutional amendments.
The amendments approved abolishment of referendum on any constitutional amendment except on chapters one and two of the constitution, in addition to adding a number of constitutional article to those two chapters. The amendments have also stipulated that runners for presidential elections should not be less than three candidates and presidential terms should not exceed two; seven years for each term. Establishment of the consultative council is done under a decision by the president of the republic. The amendments also approved that trade freedom is under the state care. The amendments also stipulate that the president tenure is extended to 7 years instead of five and the parliaments term to 6 instead of four.

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