History Repeats Itself

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Despite President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s declaration earlier this year that he would not seek re-election in 2006, we now expect him to stand again and to win the elections. We are sceptical about the announcement because Saleh made a similar statement in 1999 but ran in that year’s elections nonetheless, winning 90% of the vote. This scepticism is strengthened by news that the ruling General People’s Congress (GPC) party re-elected Saleh as party leader in December, which is widely seen as preparing the ground for his re-election.