Yemeni president accused of avoiding competition in presidential elections

The secretary general of the Yemeni Socialist Party, Ali Saleh Abbad, accused Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Thursday of not wanting a rival in the presidential elections to be held on September 23.

Abbad, whose candidacy the Yemeni parliament refused on Wednesday, told al-Thawra newspaper that President Saleh does not want to compete with Abbad or get involved in real competition with the opposition which he described as "representing the Yemeni street and embodies its stances."

Abbad's nomination obtained seven votes, a number which is much less than the needed 10% of parliamentarians, whose numbers are 301, as stated in the Yemeni constitution.

The Yemeni parliament approved the nomination of President Saleh, who received 182 votes, and parliament member Najib Qahtan al-Reyhani, from the General People's Conference Party, led by the president.