After 33 years of Saleh, Yemen votes for a new leader

California Telegraph Tuesday 21st February, 2012

SANA'A, Yemen - After a year of violent protests against the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh, people in Yemen Tuesday voted to elect a new president - though there is only one candidate in the poll.

Amid tight security, long queues formed outside polling booths in Sanaa and elsewhere Tuesday as people cast their votes to mark the final ouster of Saleh, who ruled the country with an iron fist for 33 years.

The candidate is Yemen's Vice-President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, 65, an army officer who was recently promoted to the rank of field marshal. He has been vice president since 1994. He will get a two-year term as president.

The country has around 12 million eligible voters.

Enthusiastic voters dipped their thumbs in ink and stamped their print on a ballot paper that had a photograph of Hadi and a map of Yemen.

The elections are being held following a deal brokered by Yemen's neighbours. Saleh will formally relinquish office after the voting.

He is to fly to the US for medical treatment for injuries he suffered in an assassination attempt in June.

Saleh on Monday urged Yemenis to vote for Hadi to ensure a "peaceful transition of power".

Posters of the new leader could be seen all across the city and have replaced images of Saleh.

"A New President for a New Yemen," read a large banner.

Yemeni human rights activist Tawakkol Karman, joint winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, was quoted as saying by BBC: "Today we are building the new Yemen, we are building the democratic and happy Yemen that all of the youth and women have dreamed about."

However, Hadi has a tough job on his hands. He has to tackle rising poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, severe drought and also the challenge posed by al-Qaida militants and uprisings in many parts of the country.