After months of delay, Yemen's ruling party, the General People's Congress, has signed an agreement on national dialogue with the opposition alliance, the Joint Meeting Parties. The goal is to hammer out electoral and constitutional reforms ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for April next year.

President Salih made some suitably optimistic noises after the signing ceremony. "This is a positive step towards political detente … and it opens a new political phase as the nation is for all people, not only for the ruling party or opposition," he said.

AFP's report quotes him as saying: "We are all in the same boat and we must sail together ... There must be one leadership for this ship from all political parties and I said in my speech in May that we welcome a partnership with all the political parties in Yemen."

In May, Salih proposed a national unity government embracing "all the influential political parties represented in the parliament". Given the country's current problems, this could provide a way forward but coalitions have not worked well in the past – mainly because of the ruling party's reluctance to cede any significant power to other elements.

Considering that the elections are only nine months away, it's also doubtful whether the national dialogue will achieve much in the time available. The likelihood is that it will end with some hasty – and probably unsatisfactory – legislation at the last minute.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 19 July 2010.