EVERYPLACE IS LIKE TUNISIA:

Is Yemen like Tunisia?: Student demonstrators push in Yemen for a revolution Tunisia-style as pressure builds upon President Ali Saleh, 32 years into his rule (Nasser Arrabyee, 1/27/11, Al-Ahram Weekly)

Student protests erupted in the Yemeni capital Sanaa over the last two weeks in support of what has been called the Tunisian "Jasmine Revolution" and to demand the ouster of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The coalition of the main opposition parties, locally known as Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), were leading the protests after they reached a deadlock with Saleh's ruling People's General Congress (PGC) on political and electoral reforms.

When the Tunisian-inspired protests intensified last week, the ruling PGC said in a new initiative it was ready to meet the demands of the opposition JMP for political and electoral reforms. The PGC wanted the JMP to participate in April's parliamentary elections, which the latter refused without genuine reform achieved.

The most controversial reform is limiting presidential terms to two of five-year duration, instead of open and without limits as the PGC previously proposed. The opposition demands that a proportional representation system, rather than the current single constituency system, be used in elections.