New Yemeni government wins parliament's confidence

The new Yemeni government on Sunday won the parliament's confidence in a ballot on its policy program in which it pledged to continue reforms, fight the frequent kidnapping operations and to settle border disputes with Saudi Arabia. A Yemeni official was quoted as saying that 226 members voted in favor of the program which was submitted to the parliament on Monday, 17 voted against it and 26 abstained.

The Yemeni government chaired by Prime Minister Abdul Karim Iryani was sworn in on May 17, just two weeks following the resignation of former Yemeni Prime Minister Faraj Saeed Bin Ghanim. The new government said its program aims at carrying out several reforms and countering the economic recession taking place in the country since the collapse in world oil prices.

Iryani and most of the new government members are members in the People's General Congress praty, led by President Ali Abdullah Saleh and represented by 230 members in the parliament's 301 seats.