This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Darwinek (talk | contribs) at 17:46, 1 August 2005 (cat). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 17:46, 1 August 2005 by Darwinek (talk | contribs) (cat)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Field Marshal Ali Abdullah Salih (born March 21, 1942) is the current President of Yemen. He was President of the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) from 1978 to 1990 and became president of the new merged state of Yemen in 1990. He became Yemen's first directly elected president in 1999, winning more than 96% of the vote, but the main opposition socialist party was barred from standing a candidate. The other candidate was also a member of Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC) party but was standing as an independent. The government-dominated parliament did not allow the other 28 applicants to stand.
A referendum in 2001 extended the presidential term to seven years, meaning that Salih next faces re-election in 2006.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced that he would not be standing as a candidate in the next presidential elections, scheduled for September 2006.
The announcement came during the 27th anniversary celebrations of his term in office as President of Yemen. The announcement made by the President was not due to any local or foreign pressure, according to an informed source.
See also
 | This article about a politician is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |