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Ali Abdullah Saleh علي عبد الله صالح
President Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2004.
6th President of Yemen
Incumbent
Assumed office May 22 1990
Preceded by	none
6th President of North Yemen
In office 1978–1990
Preceded by	Abdul Karim Abdullah al-Arashi
Succeeded by	none
Personal details
Born	March 21, 1942
Nationality	Yemeni
Political party	General People's Congress

Field Marshal Ali Abdullah Saleh (Arabic: علي عبد الله صالح) (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.

Saleh was Yemen's first directly elected president in 1999, winning 96.2% of the vote, but the main opposition socialist party was barred from the election. The only other candidate, Najib Qahtan al-Shaabi, is the son of a former President of South Yemen and a member of Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC) party. However, Qahtan ran as an independent. The government-dominated parliament did not allow the other 28 applicants to stand.

On February 20, 2001 a referendum was held and passed, extending presidential terms from five to seven years, parliamentary terms from four to six years, and creating a 111-member, presidentially appointed council of advisors with legislative power. This move prompted the non-profit organization Freedom House to downgrade their rating of political freedom in Yemen from 5 to 6. Saleh faced his next election in September, 2006.

Saleh announced in July 2005, during the 27th anniversary celebrations of his term in office as President of Yemen, that he would "not contest the (presidential) elections" in September 2006. He expressed hope that "all political parties - including the opposition and the General People's Congress - find young leaders to compete in the elections because we have to train ourselves in the practice of peaceful succession." However, in June 2006 Saleh changed his mind and accepted his party's nomination as the presidential candidate of the GPC, saying that when he initially decided not to contest the elections his aim was "to establish ground for a peaceful transfer of power" but that he was now bowing to the "popular pressure and appeals of the Yemeni people." Political analyst Ali Saif Hasan said had been "sure would run as a presidential candidate. His announcement in July 2005 – that he wouldn’t run – was exceptional and unusual." Mohammed al-Rubai, head of the opposition supreme council, said the president's decision "shows that the president wasn’t serious in his earlier decision. I wish he hadn’t initially announced that he would step down. There was no need for such farce."

Saleh was reelected in September 2006 with 80 percent of the votes based on a partial vote count in which 17,000 of the 27,000 ballot boxes were counted. Opposition parties dispute the results accusing the government of fraud citing that their candidate lost by a wider margin than predicted. As of 22 September 2006, the opposition has called for large street protests to dispute the election results.

References

1. Dresch, Paul (2000). A History of Modern Yemen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 184. ISBN 052179482X. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
2. ^ In eleventh-hour reversal, President Saleh announces candidacy, IRIN News
3. Freedom in the World - Yemen (2002) Freedom House
4. Yemen leader rules himself out of polls Al Jazeera
5. "Yemeni Opposition Threatens Protest". Guardian Unlimited. 22 September 2006.

External links

• President Ali Abdullah Saleh Official Website

• Current events
• 1942 births
• Living people
• Current national leaders
• Yemeni politicians
• Presidents of North Yemen
• Rulers of Yemen
• Field Marshals