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Sana'a: An American expert criticised yesterday the Yemeni opposition parties decision to boycott elections of the country's 21 local governors scheduled for May 17.
"The boycott will not be in the interest of the opposition parties," said Peter Dimitroff, director of the Sana'a-based American National Democratic Institute (NDI).
The official also said the would-be elected governors will not be effective for the decentralisation process without being given adequate powers. "We support the election of governors, we want them to have broad powers, but we also understand that this cannot happen over-night," Dimitroff told Gulf News.
Late Sunday, the Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh called on all heads and members of local councils throughout the country to convene on May 17 for electing the heads of the country's 21 provinces despite boycott decision by opposition parties.
This will be the first time in Yemen where governors, previously appointed by Saleh for presiding over the elected local councils, will be elected.
The three main opposition parties who form a political coalition called Joint Meeting parties (JMPs), of Islamists Socialists, Nasserites, decided to boycott the elections because they wanted the governors to be elected directly from the people not from the local councils which are dominated by the ruling party.
The opposition also complain of being ignored when the local authority law was amended.
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