By: Jamil al-Jadabi - SANA'A- Favoring the General People's Congress (GPC)'s presidential candidate for the September elections, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hussein al-Ahmer, speaker of the Parliament and chairman of the higher body of the Islah Party, has put an end to a fervent argument among the cadres of the Islah Party, which is the largest opposition party in Yemen, since it had announced Faisal Bin Shamaln as the presidential candidate of the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) block.

Observers see that the announcement of Sheikh al-Ahmer to support Ali Abdullah Saleh, GPC's presidential candidate, will confuse those who organize the JMP's game, if not nullifying some of their cards.
Still, tribal loyalty in Yemen figures prominently in the political and democratic interaction Yemen is witnessing nowadays. Opinion surveys, with regard to the political interaction, conducted recently in Yemen find that the voter doesn't pay as much attention to the content of the candidates' platforms as he cares for the candidate's popularity and national stances.

Hamid al-Ahmer considered his father's statements as "begging for national symbols' statements", on the part of the GPC, accusing the GPC leadership of not understanding democracy. Ahmed al-Sufi, general conductor of al-Mustaqbal (future) Current, is of the view that Sheikh al-Ahmer's stances have influences on the JMP election campaign and make it "fly with only one wing."
Al-Sufi, speaking to almotamar.net, sees Sheikh al-Ahmer's stances reflect the contentment of social sectors. His stances, al-Sufi goes on to say, conform with his national struggle, and keep him away from any link with the irritability and recklessness that have afflicted some of his sons.

No one in Yemen denies Sheikh al-Ahmer's tribal influence, his national stances during his career. Yemenis still remember his great stance in the pre-secessionist war period in 1994. At that time, he, while signing the Treaty of Conduct and Agreement in Jordan, stipulated Ali Salem al-Beidh return home. But al-Beidh went to a Gulf state, which aggravated the situation and led to the secessionist war.

Some politicians see that Sheikh al-Ahmer's stances regarding the presidential candidates would put the leaderships of his party into a critical situation, if not making them a center of suspicion for the rest of the JMP block parties, namely the Socialist Party.
Sana'a University lecturer Ahmed al-Kibsi, professor of the political Sciences, says the stances of Sheikh al-Ahmer reflect the wrong stances of the Islah as they are contradictory and characterized by hatred and antipathy towards Yemen, seeking to bring the country back to the past decades of unrest and political skirmishes. The JMP leaders are a mere group of gamblers, who would lead the country to the 'unknown', he added.

Faisal Bin Shamlan, JMP's presidential candidate, says he decided to run for presidency only after three days of discussing and negotiating with the JMP leaders, during which he tried to convince them nominating him is "a great honor" which he doesn't deserve, and that a leader from the JMP is entitled to run for presidency. "So, I had to agree after they insisted on my running for presidency," he added.

Some observers say the JMP leaders select Bin Shamlan as they lack a man capable of vying with the GPC's presidential candidate.
In 1999 the Islah Party announced Ali Abdullah Saleh as its presidential candidate considering him capable of taking the responsibility of leading the country at that stage.
As the Socialist Party blamed independent presidential candidate Ahmed al-Majeedi for seceding from the party as he "insisted on running for the September presidential elections", the Islah party made no action against its member Fathi al-Azab who is running for presidency as an independent candidate.

Some media information indicate that Islahi members would vote for al-Azab especially as they are not satisfied with Bin Shamlan, feeling he [Bin Shamlan] has been imposed on them.

Five candidates are running for presidency. These are: Ali Abdullah Saleh, candidate of the GPC; Faisal Bin Shamlan, candidate of the JMP;Yasin Abdu Saeed, candidate of the National Opposition Council; Ahmed al-Majidi, an independent candidate leading member of the socialist party; and independent candidate Fathi al-Azab, who is in charge of the youth department at the Islah party, the biggest party in the opposition coalition.