[18 December 2005]
ADEN, Dec. 17 (Saba)- The General People's Congress has approved President Ali Abdullah Saleh as its candidate for the coming
presidential elections in 2006.

In its 7th general conference in the economic hub of Yemen, the ruling party insisted on re-electing Saleh as its candidate in Yemen's second presidential elections. In an address for 5260 GPC members in the event, Religious Endowments Minister Hamoud Obad called on President Saleh to retreat from his decision to not seek another term.

The minister outlined in the speech closing the two-day conference, a wide spectrum of the GPC's major platforms, ranging from a broader
democracy to "a health insurance system, and an effective anti-corruption scheme to a stock exchange".

The party has reelected in its conference President Saleh as the head of the party, Vice President Abdu-Rabbo Mansour and presidential advisor Abdul-Karim al-Eryani as two deputy heads and Prime Minister Abdul-Qader Ba-Jammal a secretary general.

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SABA