SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's deposed leader suspected of backing the Shiite rebels' power grab in the capital, Sanaa, is urging his successor to call early elections as a way out of the deepening turmoil in the country.
Ali Abdullah Saleh, toppled in a 2011 uprising, asked embattled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to hold early presidential and parliamentary elections, and advised him to seek "national unity."
The call came in a statement from Saleh on Wednesday.
Saleh, accused by many as orchestrating Houthis' seizure of Sanaa, was granted immunity from prosecution in return for relinquishing power in a deal brokered by Arab Gulf countries and backed by the West.
But he still wields influence in Yemen, despite facing U.N. sanctions imposed on him and two other Houthi leaders.
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