Sanaa (Xinhua): Yemen’s ruling party on Sunday recommended forming a new government and drafting new constitution to prepare for transferring power to the parliamentary system based on reform initiatives offered by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, official Saba news agency reported.
“Members of the ruling party’s permanent committee stressed the importance of expediting the process of forming a new government tasked with drafting new constitution in line with President Saleh ‘s reform initiative and February deal,” Saba reported, cited the statement of the ruling party’s committee.
“The members also stressed the need to implement all reform initiatives of President Saleh, even if the opposition parties continue to maintain their intransigent position,” they said, adding that the packages of political and elections reforms have been a priority to stave off unrest in the country.
In the statement, the ruling party also affirmed that Saleh will stay until his presidential term expires in 2013 and renewed calls for the opposition to resume the dialogue for the sake of the country.
The fresh decision of the ruling General People’s Congress (GPC) came following a meeting with the president on Sunday, during which they discussed the ongoing political crisis.
Saleh has been facing escalating protests since mid February which demanded the end to his long time rule.
There was no immediate comment from the opposition, but the country’s top army officer General Ali Muhsen al-Ahmar, who is a half brother of Saleh and defected last week to join the anti- government protesters, vowed on Sunday to overthrow Saleh, according to a statement read before the protesters outside Sanaa University.
