Outgoing Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, (Photo: Reuters).
Yemen's outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh is to return home from the United States to take part in the inauguration of his successor and to lead his party, the party spokesman said on Wednesday.
"President Saleh is on his way back but I cannot give an exact date for his arrival in Sanaa," said Abdo Janadi, Yemen's deputy information minister and spokesman of Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC) party.
Yemenis on Tuesday voted in a referendum-like election for Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi to replace Saleh, based on a Gulf-brokered power transfer plan which the outgoing leader signed in November.
"There will be a grand celebration to inaugurate Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi and he will be handed over the presidential palace," Janadi said.
Political sources in Sanaa said the inauguration would take place on February 27 or 28.
Saleh, who gave up power in return for immunity from prosecution based on the deal, has been in the United States since January 29 for treatment of burn wounds he suffered when his presidential palace was attacked in June.
Rights groups have been pressing the United States to prosecute the 69-year-old whose troops and loyalists killed hundreds in a nationwide crackdown on anti-regime protests.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Tuesday that Saleh was in California and would enjoy diplomatic immunity until Hadi was inaugurated.
When asked about Saleh's future as a politician, Janadi said the outgoing president would remain as "head of the GPC, which is the largest political party in Yemen."
"Nothing in the Gulf deal prevents him (Saleh) from running as a candidate (in presidential elections) after two years," said Janadi.
The transitional period under the UN-backed Gulf accord which hands over the presidency to Hadi is to lead to legislative and presidential elections in two years.
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