President to address parties later

SANA'A, Mar. 09 (Saba) – Under the constitution, President Ali Abdullah Saleh should
have issued a directive Sunday urging the political parties to participate in the
parliamentary elections scheduled for April 27 this year but earlier approved to be
delayed to 2011, before the parliament term ends on 9 May.

But as Parliament approved late last month in principle an amendment to the article
No. 65 extending the parliament term for two more years, President Saleh will wait
until final approval of the amendment, a source at the presidency has said.

"This comes in dealing with the matter according to the constitution as the bill
overwhelmingly passed earlier must be finally ratified after two months," the source
said.

On February 25, Parliament passed a bill delaying this year's election to 2011, the
agreement reached by the ruling party and opposition which was aimed to allow time
for electoral reform.

The bill was overwhelmingly approved by a vote of 200 to100.