Militias continued in their attempt to hold the meeting and vote amid a heavy presence of armed men, despite the low attendance.

Houthi and Ali Abdullah Saleh’s militias failed in a bid Saturday, to gain the legal recognition required to establish an insurgency-administered supreme political council, after too few members attended the session.

The Houthis called the meeting in a bid to establish an insurgency-administered supreme political council which the militias announced the creation of a week ago.

But under Yemeni law, the parliament requires a minimum attendance of 151 of the 301 members of parliament for the meeting to be determined quorate and therefore legally well enough attended to be able to press ahead and hold votes that are binding.

According to Al Arabiya’s correspondent the number in attendance was significantly lower with members in attendance numbering between 80 and 85.

Despite this, the militias continued in their attempt to hold the meeting and vote amid a heavy presence of armed men, despite the low attendance.

Yasser Alraeini, the minister of state for the implementation of the Yemeni dialogue outputs, told Al Arabiya that Saturday’s session would have no legitimate effect.

Alraeini added that the ousted Saleh was plotting to eliminate the rest of the parliament’s legitimacy.

Several lawmakers have been exhausting all efforts in order to escape Sana’a, according to sources.

The representatives have received death threats if they did not attend the parliamentary session scheduled for Saturday, which had been called on by ousted former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

In a statement carried on the state news agency Saba, Hadi called the parliament session illegal and warned that MPs attending could be prosecuted as criminals.

In a statement released Friday UN Special Envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh said occurring violations were intolerable and did not aid the peace process. He further reiterated that a comprehensive solution for Yemen could only be achieved by political means.

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