President Saleh rules himself out of 2006 polls

SANA’A, July 17 (Saba)- President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced on Sunday he would not run for the presidency in the elections of September 2006. In a ceremony marking his 27th anniversary of rise to power, Saleh also urged the political parties including General People’s Congress party to find younger leaders to race for the power. He said that would institute peaceful succession in power. Saleh thanked the “brotherly and friendly” countries for assisting Yemen and urged them to refrain from interfering in Yemen’s internal affairs. Saleh said Yemen has matured its democracy by itself and does not need to learn democracy from foreign institutes. AH/AA