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Sana'a: The new members of the Supreme Commission for Elections and Referendum (SCER) are to be sworn in before President Ali Abdullah Saleh today - despite the opposition's refusal to acknowledge the panel.
The nine-member panel will hold a meeting after the ceremony to choose a president and vice-president and discuss a plan for preparations for the parliamentary elections on April 2009, official sources said yesterday.
The alliance of the three main opposition parties, Islamists, Socialists, and Nasserites, had refused the formation of the committee, describing it as an "overthrow on democracy."
Earlier this month, the ruling party used its overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives to vote for the committee after the party failed to reach an agreement with the three opposition parties on a guarantee for fair elections.
Four of the nine members of the committee belong to the opposition parties: Two belong to the Islamist party, Islah, one the Nasserite Party and one the Socialist party. The other five belong to the ruling party. The three from Islah and Nasserite, Abdullah Al Akwa'a, Saif Al Sharabi, and Abdullah Dahan refused in a statement to be members of the committee after a republican decree appointing them was issued by President Saleh earlier this week.
"The procedures of our appointment were not right, lacked harmony, and gave a negative dimension to the election process," said the three members in a joint statement.
Interference
However, Rashad Ahmad Al Rasas, minister of legal affairs said: "The formation of the elections committee took into consideration national standards, partisan standards, and competence. It was very important to form the committee now in respect of the constitutional timings, which all parties must respect,"
Mohammad Al Sa'adi, assistant secretary-general of the largest opposition party, Islah, said: "We did not need such interference in the parties' affairs by appointing members in the elections committee without the approval of the members or the approval of their parties."
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