By: Jamil al-Jadabi (almotamar.net) - SANA'A- The leaderships of the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) failed to convince their former presidential candidate Faisal Bin Shamlan to join the JMP higher body or be in charge of it so that he would continue what they described as the peaceful struggle for the next phase.
Days after announcing the sweeping defeat of Bin Shamlan in the 2006 presidential elections, the JMP leaderships organized a celebration in the most sublime hotel in Sana'a to honor their former presidential candidate, in an indication to the end of the contract between them.
After its defeat in the 2006 elections, the JMP is witnessing differences among its leaderships who accuse and hold one another accountable for the defeat.
On Monday, the JMP leaderships organized a celebration to honor Bin Shamlan. The celebration was attended by secretaries-general of the parties in the JMP bloc, as well as political and media committees members who ran Bin Shamlan's election campaign.
In the celebration, Bin Shamlan, refusing to congratulate President Ali Abdullah Saleh, underestimated the will of the people that granted their confidence to President Saleh. He justified his refusal to congratulate Saleh by saying he sticks to the democracy principles and his duty toward citizens who aspire to better standards of living.
During the celebration, Bin Shamlan seemed displeased at the reports of the international organizations that monitored the elections. While biding farewell to the political life, Bin Shamlan was keen to announce he was ready to help the General People's Congress (GPC) in some national and regional issues, wishing the coming elections would be better than the elections held this year.
Hamid al-Ahmer, who attended the celebration, delivered a speech in which he highlighted the difficulties the JMP faced during the election campaigns, and was keen to thank the GPC for opening a window of hope for competing in the elections.
Yemen News website reported that Hamid al-Ahmer had contacted former president Ali Nasser Mohammed, former prime minister Faraj Bin Ghanem as well as Mohammed Ba Sodowah, the counselor of the President, telling each one to be the . presidential candidate for the JMP. Bu the three men refused his offer