"No to hereditary rule and no to life presidency," Saleh said during an emergency session of parliament and the consultative council ahead of a "day of rage" civil society groups and opposition leaders have called for Thursday.
Saleh, who has been president for decades but whose term is due to end in 2013, urged a parliamentary opposition alliance known as the Common Forum to halt their street protests.
Saleh's opponents accuse the 68-year-old president of grooming his eldest son Ahmed, who heads the Republican Guard, an elite unit of the army, to succeed him.
Tension has soared in Yemen after the parliament, dominated by Saleh’s General People's Congress (GPC), voted in favor of a draft amendment of the constitution, which if passed, would allow Saleh to remain in office for life.
Saleh, re-elected for a seven-year mandate in September 2006, announced in his address Wednesday to parliament, which was boycotted by the opposition, the "freezing of constitutional amendments" and said the elections would be postponed.
Facing protests that have multiplied since the mid-January ouster of Tunisia's president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali following a wave of demonstrations there and a revolt in Egypt against the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak, Saleh has taken measures aimed at soothing popular discontent.
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