Sanaa, London, Asharq Al-Awsat – The presidential election starts in Yemen tomorrow (Tuesday) amid widespread interest. According to official statements published by the “SABA” news agency, over 12 million Yemeni voters have the right to vote tomorrow in the early presidential election to choose the consensual candidate Abd Rabbuh Mansour al-Hadi, president of the republic.
The Higher Elections and Referendum Committee announced the completion of all the security, technical, and legal arrangements for receiving the voters and starting the voting process. The number of voters registered in the electoral lists is 10,243,364, among them 4,348,485 women voters.
“SABA” reported that the committee guaranteed the participation of all who have reached voting age but are not registered in the electoral lists through their personal identity documents.
Twenty one supervisory committees, 301 original committees, 28,742 subcommittees are participating in managing the election in addition to 732 additional subcommittees to receive voters who are not in their electoral addresses and also 168 subcommittees for the displaced, according to the German News Agency (DPA). The total number of those working in all the election’s committees is 89,892 members and more than 103,000 security members are deployed in all the voting centers to provide protection and the security environment for the election process. SABA pointed out that the Higher Elections Committee urged all those who have reached voting age to go to the ballot boxes starting at 0800 hours to vote in the early presidential election.
Yemeni Vice President Abd Rabbuh al-Hadi, pledged two days before his election as the country’s new president to crush Al-Qaeda organization, as cited by an American official yesterday and as he personally asserted to a British envoy.
Hadi met with John Brennan, US President Barack Obama’s national security advisor and later received British envoy Emma Nicholson.
Brennan told correspondents after the meeting with Hadi “we will continue to encourage the Yemeni Government to fight Al-Qaeda organization. In this context, I was much encouraged by Hadi’s statements and pledge to crush (Al-Qaeda).”
Hadi personally asserted later on to the British envoy “that the terrorist Al-Qaeda organization must be pursued and fought and terminated from the Arabian Peninsula”, adding in statements carried by the Yemeni news agency that “this requires effective international cooperation within the framework of the partnership to fight the cross-borders terrorism.”
Al-Qaeda benefited from the central authority’s weakness and the protest movement against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime to spread its influence in the past months in extensive areas in south Yemen, particularly in the Abyan and Shabwah Governorates. Saleh was repeatedly accused by his adversaries of encouraging “Al-Qaeda’s” spread so as to use it as a political card and to say his remaining in power was essential for confronting the extremist organization.
The US official said that “some persons in Yemen used (Al-Qaeda’s) presence for their own interest. We believe it is disgraceful for elements in the government to act in this way” but he did not identify those he meant. In reply to a question confirming the participation of US aircraft in raids targeting Al-Qaeda in Yemen, the official merely said his country “is giving advice, support, and equipment to the Yemeni units fighting (Al-Qaeda).”
It is widely believed that the United States carried out several raids in Yemen, which was later corroborated by WikiLeaks, despite Washington not confirming the raids officially. SABA said Brennan asserted to the vice president and sole candidate in tomorrow’s (Tuesday) presidential election “the US support for Yemen until it emerges from the difficult conditions and current crisis and reaches all the objectives of the transitional stage.” The agency added that Brennan handed the vice president a written message from President Obama underlining “the depth of relations between Yemen and the United States in various fields and extending all forms of assistance and support, especially in these difficult and critical conditions.” Obama underlined in his message “the need to work together to bring Yemen to a better and more developed future and enter an historic stage made up of justice, equality, and respect for human rights” and expressed his “appreciation for the splendid national role with which he (Hadi) managed the crisis.”