YEMEN: Breath of Principle in Presidential Race

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Nabil Sultan

SANA'A, Jul 4 2006 (IPS) - The leading opposition candidate for presidential elections due September is a man of principle – and that is what the parties hope will speak for itself.

Faiysal bin Shamlan, former member of parliament, has been nominated opposition candidate on the slogan “President for Yemen, not Yemen for President.”

Shamlan was announced presidential candidate at a rally Sunday called by the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), an opposition coalition that includes the Islamic Islah Party, the Yemeni Socialist Party, the Nasserite Union Party, the al-Haq party and the Popular Forces Party.

Within the JMP, the Islah Party is the strongest force behind Shamlan.

Shamlan is an independent leader with no political affiliation. He was minister for oil 1994-97 after the unification of Yemen, but he resigned in protest over corruption in government.

He was elected member of parliament in 1998, but resigned after the term of the parliament was extended from four years to six years. “The people gave me their trust for only four years,” he said in his resignation statement.

That record makes Shamlan an unusually respected political leader.

He was not expecting the nomination. “I expected the opposition presidential candidate to be one of the JMP leaders who are more competent and eligible than I am,” he said. But given the JMP decision “obedience and total commitment have become a national duty.”

JMP leader Ali al-Sarari declared the need for a candidate like Shamlan. “The situation goes from bad to worse due to poor education, health and electricity services, unemployment, repeated attacks on freedom of expression on journalists and opinion writers, and preventing civil society organisations from playing a tangible role in defending rights and promoting equality.”

Shamlan was picked, he said, “to prove that Yemen is rich with leading characters who are qualified enough to build up the country and help it occupy a prestigious status among other nations.”

Another opposition group, the National Council of Opposition, which includes 12 small parties, picked Yasin Abdu Saeed, head of the Democratic Nasserite Party, as its candidate.

Saeed has said he will declare his programme later, because he still needs a minimum of 5 percent of MPs to approve his candidacy. The council has at present no seat in parliament.

The ruling General Peoples Congress (GPC) has named President Ali Abdullah Saleh as its candidate. Saleh had announced in July last year that he would not contest again in order to give “young blood a chance to lead the country.” But now he is contesting, he says, to “continue the mission.”

GPC spokesman Tariq al-Shami has criticised the JMP for picking Shamlan. “What is the use of the existing opposition parties if their leaders cannot run in the presidential elections,” al-Shami told IPS.

Saeed said the JMP had chosen an independent candidate in order to “avoid the result of a competition.”

But Shamlan is on strong grounds, He is expected to clear the first hurdle soon by which a candidate must win at least 5 percent of votes in parliament. The JMP has 20 percent of the 301 seats in parliament.

Given fair elections, a senior political leader said Shamlan would pose a strong challenge to Saleh because of his “unpolluted record and the huge publicity he is getting with the support of big political parties.”