Jamil Jaadabi Almotamar.net - The General People's Congress (GPC) was established on 24 August 1982 in the wake of a national dialogue included all groups of the people and their political and social forces .The dialogue was called for by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has put at the forefront of his woes and interests, since the first moment of his election President of the Republic by the Constituent People's Council on 17 July 1978, the search for a formula for a national working theory around which all the sons of the people would meet with the aim of filling the political and organisational vacuum in a manner interacting with principles of the people and their values and the goals of their revolution.

Due to the President's belief that such a job does not represent am individual demand and cannot be left to opinions that might fail to succeed his address was directed to all forces of the people , scholars, thinkers , sheikhs military , intellectuals and others , sounding out their opinions and thoughts on the most suitable means and working way for the establishment of a national dialogue that would agree on a working form for a national charter that would embody actual participation and the will of the people and their aspirations.

The process of the national dialogue began in late 1978 when president Ali Abdullah Saleh asked a committee of thinkers, scholars and intellectuals from inside and outside the People's Council to draw up a draft for a national charter to be put to discussion and that drafting had taken an enough time and then was referred to the president so that to move with the draft to the second step of dialogue. A meeting was held for its discussion. The meeting comprised of members of the cabinet, military commands, the governors of provinces and the higher commission of the general federation of bodies of national cooperation for development. The draft was enriched with many remarks and practical ideas springing from the applied reality and expertise of the state establishments and needs and requirements of the comprehensive development.

The additions and amendments were referred to the commission to draft the preliminary form of the draft charter. Thus the draft became a project resulted from wider participation and more opinions. But that were just the beginnings that the dialogue approach included and which the president had adopted and made of it a distinguished school that is still absent from the dialogue.

Here it is now the opportunity is convenient to test the political and intellectual forces and to urge them for a great national action. Thus was the wise decision of the participation of all colors of the political spectra and thus the republican decree issued in 1980 on the setting up of the committee o the national dialogue that included 50 members from various political and intellectual affiliations to discuss the best convenient form for filling the political and organisational vacuum and to it was referred the preliminary amended draft of the project.

The national dialogue commission began its first meeting o 21 June 1980 with all conditions of dialogue were available for it. Under those conditions the national dialogue commission met for the first time in the contemporary history of Yemen with different political affiliations at one level after they were separated and conflicting.