 SANAA - Yemen’s long-serving President Ali Abdullah Saleh said on Saturday he would stand for re-election in September -- after saying earlier in the same speech he would not seek a new term.Addressing hundreds of thousands of Yemenis gathered in the capital Sanaa to demand that he run again, Saleh said: “In response to your calls and statements I say I am with you ... to sail together to the shore of security and stability, freedom and democracy.”| "You like me, you really like me!" |
| Under his enlightened tutelage, for which there is no substitute ... |
Earlier in the same speech, Saleh had reiterated his assertions since last July that he would not run: “My decision has been and until this moment remains not to run. This is not due to lack of ability to steer the ship in the future,” he said.
Saleh has ruled the poor Arab state since its unification in 1990, after 12 years as president of North Yemen. The constitution allows him to stay in office for one more seven-year term. Saleh won YemenÂ’s first direct presidential election in 1999 with an overwhelming majority. His party still holds most of the seats in parliament, which must first approve candidates before they can run in the election.
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