Ali Abdullah Saleh has been president of Yemen for 27 years. On Sunday July 17, 2005, he announced that he will not seek re-election next year.

This move is unprecedented in the Arab world, where no head of state leaves office voluntarily, whether they are monarchs or so-called presidents.

If we look at history, say in Egypt, we find President Gamal Abdel Nasser suffered a devastating military defeat in 1967, but clung on to power regardless, until his death a few years later. President Anwar El Sadat who succeeded him mentioned several times that he wants to step down and retire, only to get more dictatorial and lock thousands in jails before his assassination on October 6, 1984.

The only person in the Arab world that I remember voluntarily giving up power is Abdel Rahman Sewar El Dahab of Sudan, who led a military coupe to depose dictator Ja'far Numeiri, and announced a transition government, and indeed did step down on time.

The current "old guard" in the Arab region include:

Mu'ammar Qaddafi of Libya

Qaddafi is still going strong for 35 years, despite being a pariah for a long time. He managed to make good with USA and Britian, and hence guarantee his staying in power, after seeing Saddam Hussein's fate in 2003.

Hosni Mubarak of Egypt

Mubarak is in his 24th year as president, after succeeding Sadat in 1981.

Recent changes in elections laws have been strongly criticized as "window dressing" and not real change.