Almotamar.net - The Political Advisor to the President of the Republic Dr Abdulkarim al-Eryany said Tuesday that discussion will begin on the electoral system and the proportional representation list after the 265th of April 2009. This will be done after the parliament would vote on the agreement reached by the political parties on the question of extending the term of the parliament tenure.
In a seminar on the proportional representation electoral system organized today by Saba Centre for Strategic Studies Dr al-Eryany made it clear that changing the present electoral system needs a constitutional amendment and amendment of the constitutional article.
Al-Eryany viewed that there are negatives in the proportional representation electoral system , among them non-interaction between the candidate and the voters because the elector votes only for the list and also the connection of development with what the candidate endeavors for after his being elected on developing his constituency. He said the proportional list system makes the candidate uninterested in that because there is no certain constituency he directly represents but he rather came via the proportional list.
Dr al-Eryany also said the parties cannot change the homeland into a proportional list because the social and geographical situation does not allow that due t the social, tribal and historical circumstances and that history cannot but project itself on any electoral system. And he called for a mixed electoral system that allows gathering the proportional list and keeps the individual list.

On his part the Head of the Information Office of the General People’s Congress GPC Tareq al-Shamy said that all electoral systems are democratic ones and each society has its own peculiarities especially in choosing the system that suits it. He added that any electoral system depends on the level of the political awareness, the level of illiteracy and development and cohesion of parties, explaining that the proportional representation system needs certain controls. He also called for a comprehensive study of all electoral systems and an agreement on the most suitable electoral system. Al-Shamy also pointed out if the proportional representation system was applied, certain parties would control over the list and other parties will go out of the list.

On the other hand the executive manager of the Saba Centre Ahmed Abdulkarim Saif said the question of the electoral system is among the most important decisions for any democratic regime. He added that in most cases the selection of a certain electoral system would have huge consequences on future of the political life in the concerned country. The selected electoral systems tend towards continuity at a time when political interests are pivoting around what could be benefited from the incentives that those systems would provide and that despite of that the selection of electoral systems is recently reached through a studied process but that was not the case in the past.
After that discussion sessions began and were enticed by many interruptions , among them that of director of IFES office in Yemen Peter Williams in which he called for choosing an electoral system convenient for Yemen according to its environment and geography , saying that not every electoral system suitable in a certain country is good to apply in Yemen.
On her part Ilham Abdulwahab, director general of the woman in the Supreme Commission for elections and Referendum stressed the importance of the woman participation in any electoral system that would be approved later and also called that women have to reach a rate of 30% of eats in the proportional list.