Almotamar.net - Head of the Information Office of the General People's Congress (GPC) Tareq Al-Shamy has called on Saturday on local and international political parties and organisations and civil society organisations to stabilize transparency in the question of funding their activities and orientations.

Speaking at the dialogue symposium held in Sana'a Saturday by the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) on the general funding of politics of the emerging democracies, al-Shamy said there must be transparency and legal texts regulating the process of financing electoral operations, especially that there are some political forces and parties in the Yemeni arena are part of an international groups whether regarding the Muslim Brotherhood or some nationalist trends.
Al-Shamy revealed that there are funds pumped for funding terrorist acts and criminal practices that the society is experiencing at present. He confirmed hat " We have to be keen there must be full transparency with regard to the funds granted to candidates, whether they were individuals or parties." He pointed out there are funds granted in he crisis of secession that Yemen lived in the summer of 1994. Al-Shamy also said there are funds that were allocated to the secession operation and were transferred abroad and the fear is that there is a direction to pump them again inside for the same purpose or to other similar ones.
Mr al-Shamy has further stressed the importance that the political parties should declare their closing accounts , pertaining to elections and their candidates or concerning their central and local annual activities centrally and at the level of branches in governorates as well as at the level of individuals.

He said up until now there is no transparency in this regard and "We hope there will be with the parties a serious orientation particularly among the concerned in the parties affairs committee." he said as long as there is a valid law it has to be implemented until the creation of other legal texts related to elections and other matters.
On the other hand Mr al-Shamy stressed acceleration of setting up the elections commission to be able to carry out its tasks in managing the electoral process , calling on all political forces that their basic principle that the upcoming parliamentary elections are to be held in their fixed date of 27 April 2009. He pointed out that whatever the talk on transparency in financing the candidates and regarding electoral procedures it has no avail unless the elections commission is formed. The formation of the election commission is considered an important point proving seriousness of these parties in developing the electoral process and the democratic experiment.

On his part the Resident Executive Director of IFES in Yemen Peter Williams stressed the necessity of reconsidering the question of the amounts of money with which the parties and candidates are supported , affirming the importance that there must be general funding to all political parties and candidates for elections. He said as much as there was enough support for the candidates and was used in a good way in the electoral process; the would be control of the Yemeni politics and keeping it away from control of the centres of influence and capitals of businessmen.
Chairwoman of the Cultural Development Foundation Dr Raoufa Hassan criticised the situation the woman is suffering inside the political parties, pointing out that the parties receive support and funding but do not give the woman anything of it.