Yemen MPs back end to presidential term limit

Lawmakers supported the motion, which would place no restrictions on Mr Saleh running for president and effectively making him a lifelong ruler, was met with opposition protests outside parliament.

Opposition supporters protest against the proposed constitutional amendments in Sana’a yesterday.

SANA'A // Yemen's parliament yesterday backed the removal of a two-term limit for the country's president, which would enable Ali Abdullah Saleh to pursue another five years in office.

The draft constitutional amendment was supported by MPs in a parliament dominated by the ruling party, despite opposition protests outside and a call from the United States to delay the vote.

A final vote by MPs will take place later this year.

Mr Saleh's seven-year term in office - hissecond - ends in 2013, and the law bars him from seeking another term. The proposed amendment would place no restrictions on him running for president and, in theory, would make it possible for him to serve for the rest of his life if re-elected.

The 68-year-old leader has ruled for 32 years - as president of North Yemen from 1978 until 1990 when North and South Yemen unified, and then as president of the Republic of Yemen. His first elected term began in 1999.

"Ali Abdullah Saleh is a national necessity not for his person but because [of] the interests of Yemen, and stability of the political system ... He is accepted by everybody inside and outside the country," Sultan al Barakani, the head of the ruling General People's Congress, said before the vote.

The amendment would return the presidential term to five years from seven, a change that was initially made in the 2001 referendum. The amendment proposal says the seven-year term "is long compared with other democratic countries".

It is part of a package of proposed constitutional changes that include adding a quota of 44 seats for women in the 301-member legislature, establishing two chambers for parliament, instead of one, and granting powers to regional councils.

Under Yemeni law, the amendments will now be reviewed by a parliamentary committee, which will report back to parliament in 60 days where a final vote will take place.

The amendments will then be put to a referendum, which is expected to be held simultaneously with the parliamentary elections in April.

Hundreds of supporters of the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), an opposition group of six parties including the Islamist Islah party, as well as opposition MPs gathered outside the parliament as the vote took place to protest the amendments.

"Eliminating the two-term limit is a fall back from the spirit of the republican system ... it is also an overthrow on the unity [between the north and south], which gives the right to the people in partnership in power," said Aidarous al Naqeeb, an opposition MP.

On Friday, the US State Department issued a statement urging the ruling party to delay the vote and continue negotiations with the opposition on political reforms - a process agreed between the General People's Congress (GPC) and JMP in February 2009.

However, the parliament's speaker, Yahia al Raee, said: "We do not accept this ... we will not bow to the US or another ... we will bow to the decision of the parliament."

The amendment comes amid increasing tension between the GPC and JMP after a vote by the GPC on the country's electoral law and the formation of an electoral commission last month.

The opposition said that by approving the amendment to the electoral law on December 11, the ruling party violated the 2009 accord on political reforms under which they agreed to postpone the parliamentary election for two years.

Elsewhere in Yemen yesterday, reports said authorities freed Hassan Baoum, the main leader of the southern opposition movement, two months after his arrest.