By: Jamil al-Jadabi - SANA'A- In a press conference held today by the Supreme Commission for Elections and Referendum (SCER), the General People's Congress (GPC) affirmed its commitment to holding a weapons-free election day, and that its supporters and bases throughout the constituencies and election centers shall not bear arms on the September election day.

Head of the General People’s Congress (GPC) Information Office, Tareq Ash-Shami, called on the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) to discuss together the risk of bearing arms during election campaigns and on the election day, and then come up with a communiqué asking all members and supporters of all political parties not to carry arms, and help them accept honest competence.

Ali al-Sarari, head of JMP media election campaign, held the government responsible for organizing and owning arms, affirming the JMP stick to the constitution. But those in the JMP shall not defend any of their members should they commit violence, said al-Sarari, without frankly announcing that the JMP responded to Ash-Shami's call regarding issuing a communiqué to help stop bearing arms.

Abu Lohoum, head of the GPC General Affairs Circle, called on all political forces to mollify the language of attack, leave exaggeration in order not to give rise to violence and stop criticizing others.

Talking about al-Jawf shooting incident, al-Sarari ignored the killing of Mohammed al-Dhameen, GPC candidate for local council elections in al-Zaher district, and others, referring only to the killing of Musleh Sheryan who belongs to the Islah Party (Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen).
"We need more time to stop violence," al-Sarari said, undertaking to not defend any JMP members that commit violence, and indicating they are not armed militia.

Ash-Shami, moreover, cited some cases in which security and police individuals were exposed to violation by JMP supporters during the last elections in different areas.
"We don't want to recall the past, but we want to stress on the key role of parties in taking responsibly to raise awareness and guide candidates to stick to the election publicity guidelines," he noted.
Abdu al-Janadi, head of the SCER information sector, made it clear that investigations are going on regarding al-Jawf shooting incident, and that it is not clear which parties started shooting fire. "We must be clear in avoiding violence. The party that resorts to violence can't believe in democracy," he said.
Meanwhile, Dar al-Salaam Organization for Combating Violence and Revenge called on parties to ask their candidates to hold a meeting to call on candidates' supporters to announce the election campaign a weapons-free period. But the JMP representative ignored once again the Dar al-Salaam's call, while at the same time Abu Lohoum affirmed the GPC's readiness to agree on anything presented by either the JMP or international organizations in this regard.
Representatives of International organizations warned of candidates' intimidating practices, stressing it is important that candidates are to present themselves to voters without intermediating them.