Following a presidential request, the Shura Council is scheduled to be meeting today in a general assembly to elect a new president. Since the death of former Prime Minister Abdul Aziz Abdu Ghani, the Council had been left without an appointed leader.

Ghani died from the wounds he sustained in the palace's June attack.

However it seems that the presidential decree has been received with little to no enthusiasm as the members of the Council feel that they being forced to comply with president Saleh's request, as the latter is trespassing onto the Shura Council's independence from the executive.

Saleh is believed to have passed on to the Council a short list of names, including figures such as Doctor Abdullah Albar and Doctor Abdul Salam al-Ansi.