Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Thursday promised to put a new constitution to a referendum this year and move to a "parliamentary system", including a new election law
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Thursday promised to put a new constitution to a referendum this year and move to a "parliamentary system", including a new election law. He made the pledge to thousands of people at a political rally in the capital Sanaa, after weeks of unrest in which some 30 people have been martyred and a day after two people were martyred in fresh unrest. Saleh also promised to protect anti-government demonstrators from violence. "We have ordered the security forces to continue to provide protection for all the protesters, whether they are supporters of our legitimacy or from the opposition," he told the massive crowd in a televised address. However, Yemen's parliamentary opposition has rejected Saleh's plan to hold a referendum on a new constitution, describing it as too little “too late.” "The president's initiative is too late and constitutes the last breath of the political regime which protesters demand an end to," opposition spokesman Mohammad al-Sabri told AFP.Saleh Promises New Constitution, Opposition Rejects It as ‘Too Late’
