19 - 25 July 2001
Issue No.543
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 19 - 25 July 2001 Issue No.543 |
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A fairer electoral process?
Yemen's opposition parties have rejected a government plan to amend election laws, saying it would only give more power to the president, Nasser Arrabyee reports from Sanaa
All the major Yemeni opposition parties this week declared their rejection of a government-proposed election law which would give the president the right to appoint the body in charge of administrating the electoral process.
Last week, the government invited representatives of political parties and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to a joint meeting to discuss the proposed changes to the election process. However, most observers described that meeting as a mere facade for passing a law which would marginalise opposition forces.
The most controversial point in the new law is that related to the formation of the Supreme Election Committee (SEC), the highest body in charge of running elections. According to the draft law, President Ali Abdullah Saleh would be entitled to nominate 15 members to the SEC, after which the lower and upper houses of parliament would approve seven of those 15. The president would then appoint two figures to make up the nine-member body which would supervise all elections. Moreover, it is the president, according to the proposed law, who choses the chairman of the SEC.
The amendments still need majority approval in parliament, which is overwhelmingly dominated by President Saleh's People's General Congress party (PGC).
The SEC, in accordance with the amendments, would be directly accountable to the president, who would have the right to sack or replace any member of the committee and also to appoint any person to a vacant seat.
Conversely, the law now in force gives the president the right to name only seven of the 15 nominated by the House of Representatives. Those appointed elect their own SEC chairman and vice-chairman.
The government clearly wishes to exclude the representation of political parties on the SEC under the pretext of "ensuring neutrality and independence" of the committee. Opposition politicians have strongly criticised the draft law, saying it supports a "tyrannical regime." They say Saleh's PGC is planning to conduct elections in a dark room, excluding political forces from playing a part in running the election process.
Despite the government's affirmation that the amendments would guarantee neutrality and independence, opposition parties see the move as a threat to democracy and a return to totalitarianism. They say it would increase the dominance of the ruling party.
A joint statement issued by the recently-established Coordination Council of Opposition Parties (CCOP) - made up of the Islamic Reform Party (Islah), the Yemeni Socialist Party, the Unionist Nasserite Party, the Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party, the Alhaq Party, the Popular Forces Union Party and the September Party - asked the government for a number of guarantees to reform the "political and electoral atmosphere."
Perhaps the most important opposition demands are for the securement of real public participation in the political and democratic process; for an assurance of the neutrality of the state- run media, the army and financial sectors; and that the ruling party not be allowed to exploit the public employment policy to make political gains.
In talks with Yemeni Prime Minister Abdul-Qader Bajamal last week, the CCOP said the president "should not use his post to favour of a certain party as long as the president was regarded as president for all."
"The PGC wants to modify constitutional and legal provisions so as to suit its interests alone," said Ali Saif Hassan, a member of the central committee of the Unionist Nasserite Party. "They are good at amendments, but very bad at recognising their failures in running state affairs," he added.
Ali Assarary, a member of the political bureau of the Yemeni Socialist Party, said: "The PGC wants completely to dominate the election process and turn the SEC into a group of employees who can easily be fired or replaced if they don't yield to the PGC's will.
"The amendments would return the country to a totalitarian and dictatorial system," he added.
In a attempt to appease the opposition, the chief of the PGC's parliament bloc, Sultan Al-Barakani, promised to change "a lot" of the proposals before submitting them to parliament for voting. However, he stressed the necessity of keeping the article which gives the president the right to dismiss members of the SEC. He justified this by saying that the current law had no penal text regarding members who might break the law.
Supporters of the amendments say they result from the SEC's disastrous running of last February's first-ever municipal elections in the Arabian Peninsula, which gave rise to several violent incidents.
Local elections, held to coincide with a referendum over constitutional changes, were suspended in 143 of the 2,025 polling stations because of security incidents. At least 40 people were killed and 60 injured in election-related violence in a single week. Most of the those killed and injured were victims of clashes between supporters of the two largest rivals, Islah and the ruling PGC.
Yemeni opposition parties claimed serious electoral irregularities, violations and crimes in the February polls, and called for new elections. They lodged an appeal before the country's highest court to investigate their claims of fraud and ask that the declared results be annulled.
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