Ali Abdullah Saleh (Better 2000s)

Ali Abdulla Saleh is the first directly elected (rather then indirectly elected) President of Yemen who played a key role in the Unification of Yemen. As of the year 2000 he stands at the gates of a new century for the nation.

Developer Notes

 * In OTL for the entirety of the 2000s Yemen was seen as a valued ally of the United States during the War on Terror. Trouble mounted into action in 2011 when protests began against his rule.Cracks began to show in 2005 when Ali promised to step aside and let the new generation- this new century- decide from the young people of Yemen who the next president shall be so Yemen may become accustomed to the peaceful succession of power. This was well recieved, applauded even- but when the elections came around he accepted his party's nomination for candidacy and won 77% of the votes 2006. It would be 2011 that protest would actually begin with the next election set to take place in 2012. These demonstrations can be seen as a response to fears that Ali would run again and win again creating a situation where a man was the elected leader for 21 years consecutively in what seemed too much like the situations in Syria, Iraq under Saddam, etc. After an attempt on his life he resigned. The Better 2000s timeline is only interested in making the 2000s (2000 to 2009) better thus our choice to have him not run in the 2006 election is not to make those events of 2011 go away. It's done to ensure that the international reaction remains positive with Ali leaving office in 2006 remembered as the man who steared Yemen towards a democratic future. This is the present direction we'll be taking with the timeline though it poses it's own questions about the future. We will not know the topics of debate or who will be running for his party in the election until we examine world history in this Alternate History to the point of the 2006 elections.