National government to be formed, after agreement on reforms in Yemen

By Nasser Arrabyee 17\07\2010

The Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said he would form a national government if the political parties in his country implemented an agreement they reached today Saturday.

The political parties have agreed to do political and elections reforms before the coming parliamentary elections on April 2011.

The ruling party and the four main opposition parties agreed to implement the February 2009 agreement according to which these parties postponed the Parliamentary elections from April 2009 to April 2011.

After 17 months of disagreements and political wrangles , the parties under the sponsorship of President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed a 10-point plan for implementing the February 2009 agreement which stipulates conducting genuine political and election reforms.

Before signing the agreement of today, a total of 28 political detainees from the southern movement activists, were released, the most important demand of the opposition during the last few months.

The former MP, Ahmed Ba Mualem, and former ambassador Kasem Askar were among the prominent leaders of the southern movement who were released today after they were sentenced to 10 and 5 years in prison for “harming the national unity”.


The most important step in the 10-point plan is that the parties would form a 200-member committee to prepare for a comprehensive national dialogue and conducting constitutional amendments to guarantee the political and elections reforms required for Yemen.

100 members of this committee will be from the ruling party, and 100 from the four opposition parties which include the Islamist Islah party, the Socialist party, Nasserite party , and the Ba’ath party.

The President Ali Abdullah Saleh who sponsored the signing of the agreement said a national government from all parties will be formed if this agreement is implemented.

“If the steps agreed upon were implemented , we are ready to form a national government from all political spectrum for conducting the elections on time,” said Saleh said who celebrated today , July 17th, the 33 anniversary of his taking power.

The representative of the opposition coalition, Abdul Wahab Mahamoud, said,” We are happy with this agreement, we are happy that his Excellency President (Saleh) sponsored the agreement. We hope we’ll have confidence and cooperation in the coming time.”