Parliament Refers Government Request for Election Law Amendment to Committee

Sana'a- Mar 8, 2011- The House of Representatives turned over to the special constitutional committee a government request for amending the election law calling for opening the door to the eligible people to start registering in the voter rolls.

In an explanatory note read by Minister of State for Parliament and Shura Affairs, Ahmed Al-Kuhlani, the government justified the proposed amendment aims to expand the popular participation in the upcoming parliamentary elections and to implement the President Saleh's initiative for reviewing and correcting the voters' lists before the elections scheduled for next month.

In late 2010, the ruling party bloc in Parliament overwhelmingly voted in favor of an additional article to the election law stipulating the voter rolls were in their final version.

In protest at the unilateral move by the party, the opposition blocs and independent lawmakers boycotted the parliamentary sessions and staged a sit-in inside the House.

They said the vote was unconstitutional and violated all agreements signed by the political parties in the country topped by February 2009 Agreement that extended the parliamentary term by two years.

Source: Yemen Post