The opposition Joint Meeting Parties block in the Yemeni parliament said that it will boycott the upcoming session of the joint meeting for the parliament and the Shura councils, in which president Ali Abdullah Saleh called for to announce his upcoming political initiative.

According to Ali Amrani, a senior official in the ruling General People Congress (GPC) party, the president will surprise everyone with the announcement that he will not run in the 2013 presidential elections. “Saleh feels that Yemen needs new faces, and will not run in the next elections. His initiative will give realistic solutions to ensure that Yemen does not become the next Tunisia or Egypt,” he added.