OF
THE ORIGINAL 31 nominees, the presidential vetting committee
put forward 24 names for consideration by the full parliament. Only two of these
achieved the required 10% support from MPs and 20 attracted no votes at all. The two
approved candidates are:
 ALI
ABDULLAH SALIH, the current President of Yemen. He agreed to
stand as the candidate for the General People's Congress (GPC), having earlier offered to
step down. His apparent reluctance was seen by many observers as a ploy to secure
nomination by "popular demand". The main parliamentary opposition party, Islah,
will not be fielding its own candidate and has already declared its support for Salih.
With the combined support of the GPC and Islah, Salih is certain to win.
CV and election programme of Ali
Abdullah Salih
Yemen Times, 20-9-99
NAJIB QAHTAN AL-SHA'BI, aged 46, eldest son of Qahtan Muhammad al-Sha'bi, who was
the first president of southern Yemen after independence. Mr Sha'bi is a Member of
Parliament and, like President Salih, belongs to the GPC - though news reports say he is
standing as an independent.
CV
and election programme of Najib Qahtan Al-Shaabi
Yemen Times, 20-9-99
The most prominent among the ousted nominees is
ALI SALIH 'UBAD MUQBIL, Secretary-General of the Yemen Socialist Party (YSP),
which ruled south before unification. A veteran politician from Abyan, he took over
leadership of the party in 1994 after Ali Salim al-Baid and others in the party hierarchy
fled following their unsuccessful attempt to establish a separate state in the south. He
was nominated by the parties of the Supreme Co-ordination Council for the Opposition
(which includes the YSP).
As an example of Yemeni democracy in action, the process
so far looks unsatisfactory. In theory, a two-person contest ought to be good because it
avoids splitting the opposition vote - as would have happened if all 31 nominees had been
allowed to stand. But in this case, with two members of the GPC running against each
other, there are bound to be doubts about whether the election is genuinely competitive. |