Voting starts in Yemen amid tightened security measures
Yemen, Politics, 4/28/2003

After Yemenis casted their votes yesterday for the parliamentary elections, vote selection operation started immediately in all balloting centers in Yemen. The Votes selection operations are attended by representatives for the candidates to the elections as well as representatives for the national auditing commission and Arab and international mass media.

The votes selection operations are carried out amid tightened security measures of precaution of acts of riots.

News reports said that the selection process of votes were made in positive atmospheres, but they were slow. They explained that the Yemeni law gives the election committees 72 hour time to end the vote selection operation.

The chairman of the higher council for elections, Khaled al-Sharif, said that the official results will be declared after 3 days to give enough time for the arrival of balloting boxes to remote areas.

However, tension prevailed several election circles in various parts of Yemen especially in the provinces of Eib, Omran and Lahj. Several balloting centers witnessed clashes and hand fights that resulted in many wounded between partisans of competing candidates.

Worthy mentioning that armed conflicts prevailed the parliamentary elections of 1997 and the municipal elections in 2001 which resulted in 31 killings.

However, despite the limited acts of violence in the election operation, the balloting centers witnessed a great turnout.

Member of the higher committee for the elections, Abo Muhammad al-Juneini, said that the turnout was great. He explained that for the first time Yemen is witnessing a competition at that volume and an electoral freedom as such.

The Yemeni legislative elections - the third since the unification of the two parts of the country in 1990, witnessed heated competition between various political parties in the country amid tightened security measures. Some 1536 candidates to win the 301 seats of the parliament, including 11 women only despite the fact women constitute 40% of the eligible voters in Yemen numbering 8 million.

The ruling general people's congress party is represented by 296 candidates, while the two opposition trends, the Yemeni coalition for reforms by 212 candidates and the socialist party by 107 candidates.

The congress party which is led by the Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh seemed gained the most number of parliamentary seats. The elections are also attended by local and international observers to make sure the process was uncorrupted.

While casting his vote at Sanaa's governorate, the Yemeni president stressed his intention to honor to the results of the vote, noting that no matter, "the winner by the end will be a Yemeni citizen and that the general people's congress party he leads does not want to get a rate of 99.9% rate."

Previous Stories:
  Atmospheres of tension in Yemen prior to legislative election, Sunday   (4/26/2003)
  Iraq's representative at the AL asks for asylum in Yemen   (4/11/2003)
  Yemeni official calls for supporting the strong Arab will   (4/7/2003)

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