Mass festival in Sana’a supporting President’s initiative
SANA’A, March 11 (Saba)- Tens of thousands of people participated on Friday in a mass festival in downtown of the capital Sana’a ,expressing their support to the initiative of President Ali Abdullah Saleh to develop the political system. The participants in the festival lifted President Saleh’s photos and slogans calling for peaceful dialogue to address the political tension and save the nation from sedition. They chanted slogans condemning the opposition parties’ disavowal of dialogue and all the political agreements signed with them on issues of concern to the country. In contrast, the participants repeated mottos in favor of the President Saleh’s initiative to form a unity government to oversee the conduct of elections as well as a sub-committee from representatives of Parliament and the Shura Council to prepare a new constitution and put it to a referendum later this year by the people. The participants expressed their regret for the subversive slogans adopted by the opposition parties to topple the regime through chaos and coup against the constitutional legitimacy and democracy. On Thursday in a general national conference held in an outdoor stadium in Sana’a, President Saleh announced a new initiative to develop the political system and seek the success of the comprehensive national dialogue with all political forces at the Yemeni arena. Saleh’s new initiative also included converting into a parliamentary system, in which all executive powers are given to an elected government that will come through the parliamentary elections scheduled to take place in late 2011-early 2012. All powers will be given to the government, improving the local governance system by giving it vast powers based on decentralized administrative and financial systems, establishing provinces based on geographical and economic measures and forming a national unity government to draft a new electoral law based on proportional representation. BA Saba