Yemen Holds Elections Amid Protests and Violence

Although he only needed one vote to win, sole presidential candidate Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi (pictured above casting his own vote) was one of hundreds who poured into Sanaa to participate in the elections. “We want change. We want a new president,” said a shopkeeper, Yahya al-Qadhi, just after he voted. “It’s fine that only [Hadi] is on the ballot. If there was more than one candidate, then they would start killing each other and we are sick of the killing.” Though the turnout was higher than expected, there were still signs of skepticism amongst citizens. ”Maybe you can call them elections,” said Nadia Abdullah, one of many who protested the elections, “but for me, elections should have more than one candidate.” Another activist, Yusra Ahmed, said ”It’s not an election, it’s an opinion poll … There’s no democracy in ‘voting’ for one candidate.” On the eve of the election, Yemen state TV anchor  Amal al-Sharamy read former President Ali Abdullah Saleh‘s farewell speech: “I say farewell to the authority. I remain with you a citizen loyal to his homeland, his people and his nation as you have known me through thick and thin. I will perform my duty and my role in serving the country and its just causes” via the ruling party.

Outside Sanaa, however, the elections faced protesters associated with two main movements: the separatist Southern Movement and the northern Shiite rebels. Four were killed, including one child, in the gunfire exchanged between policemen and Southern Movement members who seized polling stations in an attempt to disrupt voting. On a day when hardline factions of the Southern Movement called for “civil disobedience,” a government official stated, ”half of the polling booths in Aden have been shut down after they were seized by gunmen from the Southern Movement.” Ten out of twenty polling stations were closed.