President Hadi to announce date for National Dialogue Conference

President Abdel Rabo Mansour Hadi United Nations special envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar said on Wednesday that the technical committee assigned to prepare the National Dialogue Conference had completed their tasks. In a news conference held in Sanaa, Benomar said that the technical committee will hand over their report to President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi who will announce when the National Dialogue will be held.
The UN official confirmed that all Yemeni parties involved in the technical committee had reached an agreement on the participation quotas of rival political parties and movements in the conference.
Benomar said that the General People's Congress (GPC) - the party of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh - will seize 112 seats out of 565 available in the conference. The major opposition bloc, the Joint meeting will have 117 seats. While the Southern Movement will have 85 seats and the Houthi Shiite group 35 seats.
Media reports on Tuesday said the former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh told Benomar that the GPC will not accept less than 50 percent representation in the National Dialogue Conference. But Benomar's declaration on Wednesday came to ease down fears over a deadlock in political progress in the rifted country.
He also said that each party participating in the national dialogue has to allocate at least 20 percent of its quota for youth and 30 percent for women.
It was agreed earlier that 50 percent of the seats will be granted to the southern parties and the other half to the northern ones.
Benomar left Sanaa on Wednesday after his visit, where he held meetings with the various political parties in Yemen. He was briefed on the implementation of the GCC-brokered initiative as well as the latest developments of the National Dialogue Conference.