Yemeni president declares formation of higher election committee

Yemeni President Ali Abdalla Saleh issued a decree to form the Higher Committee of Elections, which consists of 7 members to be chosen out of the 15 members nominated by the parliament with the 2/3 majority according to the Yemeni constitution.

The People's Conference will be represented by the former minister of interior and Ambassador, Abdalla Barakat, and the former member of parliament, Khaled Mohamed Abdel Aziz. The Reform will be represented by the former minister Mohamed Hassan Demag and the former governor of Lahg, Abdalla Awad Bu Mattar. The Socialist party will be represented by the former member of the Political Office, Mohamed Haidra Said, while the Independents will be represented by the former member of parliament, Mansour Ahmed Seif.

The Yemeni President's decree to form this committee came as a result of the differences between the People's Conference and the Reform. The opposition parties which were not represented in the committee criticized this step and considered it a political agreement between the People's Conference and the Reform which ignored the other parties.

Those opposition parties are the Arab Socialist Baath (Resurrection) Party and the Unionist Nasserist Organization.