In a comment made last week to al-Jazeera, on the occasion of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh's birthday party at his Sana'a residence, Gen. Yehia Mohammed Saleh, former Chief of the Central Security Forces and Saleh's nephew, commented defiantly that his family and party will be back in power in 2014 (in time for the next presidential elections)

While many of his detractors wrote off the comment as bravado, smiling at the idea the former regime's men could stage a comeback in post-revolution Yemen, members of the General People's Congress, former President Saleh's political faction are slowly mapping out a comeback, some pinning their hopes on Gen. Ali Ahmed Saleh.

Gen. Ahmed Ali who already had been identified by the former regime as the natural heir to then-President's political legacy has been groomed to power a great many years, having enjoyed unparalleled military power as the Head of Yemen's mighty Republican Guards, an entity created especially to protect and serve Yemen presidency.
A fine administrator and modern thinker, Gen. Ahmed Ali has been often seen as a reformer, a man who would have driven Yemen away from its tribal tradition and reinforced republican principles.

Although his father' son, Gen. Ahmed Ali received a western education, giving him an oversight which some argued former President Saleh lacked at times.

Having been hailed the future of Yemen for many years by the General People's Congress, many politicians are determined to see him rise again from the ashes of his father's regime, not as SAleh's heir, but rather as the new face of the GPC.

In theory, the idea that the GPC, one of Yemen's most important political entities and de facto ruling party, since President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi is after all one of the GPC most senior ranking member, could stage a comeback in the next presidential elections is plausible.
But whether such a comeback will revolve around one the Salehs remain to be seen.

Shaken by 2011 uprising, the GPC suffers somewhat of an identity crisis in post-Arab Spring Yemen, seeking to find a new footing in the country's new political landscape.

Founded by former President Saleh in 1982, the GPC has throughout three decades in power somehow fused in with ex-President Saleh, one becoming the political extension of the other.

Identity Crisis
So far the General People's Congress is fairing incredibly well in the wake of the Arab Spring compared to their Egyptian and Tunisian counterparts, which were pretty much laid to waste under revolutionaries' boots.
The only political faction to have survived a popular uprising, Yemen's GPC, came out pretty much unscathed, retaining not only a strong presence in the transition government but also its majority at Parliament, with 238 seats out of 301 (over 58% representation).
More importantly, it continued to act as Yemen ruling party through President Hadi.

As far as the GPC is concerned, when former President Saleh handed over its resignation from power in Riyadh in 2011, it only lost some of its political influence to the opposition, having politically survived the biggest shake up in three decades.

On paper the GPC remains strong. Whether it will however survive former President Saleh is something entirely different.

Yemen uprising brought to the surface longstanding divisions within the GPC. Broken down into two in-factions the GPC now is constituted of die-hard pro-Saleh, who continue to recognize Yemen's former president as the only true and legitimate leadership of the party. Figures such as MP Sultan al-Barakani or Abdu al-Ganadi, spokesperson for the GPC often said the party would never survive without Saleh as Saleh was the party.

Others, more progressist members, such as Dr Abdel Kareem al-Iryani, longstanding senior adviser to former President Saleh, former minister and President of the Technical Committee for the National Dialogue argue the GPC, as a political entity needs to restructure as to learn from its past mistakes and drive the wave of change which is currently pushing Yemen toward democratic modernization.

Several party members are already contesting Saleh's presidency at the GPC, arguing President Hadi should as President of the Republic of Yemen become the new leader of the party, replacing Saleh in both roles, head of the country and head of the party.

Abdul Qader al-Hilal, Sana'a new Mayor was quoted as saying by Foreign Policy in February 2012, "Normally in the third world, the President of the country is the president of the party. While not negating the important role the former president could and should continue to play within the party they argue it is time for the GPC to move on and progress.

Mohammed Boghety, a GPC member in Sana'a also pointed to the PR liability the former president represents to the party as members are trying to re-brand themselves to the people of Yemen by distancing themselves of a troubled past.
"President Saleh's reluctance to let go of power and the fact that the people have associated him with everything that was wrong with the country is a problem. If the GPC is to survive and restore its position as Yemen's leading faction, decisions will have to be made and reforms will have to be implemented.
We all want to make a comeback in 2014.
If not, I suppose the party will implode or lose all relevance."

Sheikh Mohammed Abu Lohoom, a former high ranking member of the GPC, now founder and Chairman of the Justice and Building party, often expressed his support of the GPC, noting how important the faction was for Yemen political balance, emphasizing on the role the GPC will continue to play in Yemen stability.

For now it looks as if the GPC will continue to be am important feature of Yemen's political map. The possibility of a comeback to the forefront of the political scene is therefore a strong possibility.
Whether this comeback will herald a return to power of the Salehs, might however be a bit of a stretch.