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Salehs 33 Year Yemen Rule Ends Today With Party Benefiting Vote

Posted on: Tue February 21, 2012

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg)  Yemenis vote today in a presidential election that formally ends the 33-year rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh, who becomes the fourth Arab leader to succumb to a popular uprising -- albeit on some of his own terms.

As part of the Gulf-brokered accord that concludes Saleh"s reign, the vice president for the past 18 years, Abdurabu Mansur Hadi, is running uncontested. Hadi was appointed leader after Saleh signed a power transition accord in November in return for immunity for himself and his inner circle.

"The importance of the election is that it"s a symbolic turning point," April Longley Alley, senior analyst for the Arabian peninsula at the International Crisis Group, said in a telephone interview from Sana"a. "It"s not an ideal situation, but in the current situation it"s a way to allow for a symbolic break from a past era so that there could be an opportunity to move forward."

Hadi will lead Yemen during a two-year transition that"s expected to end with a new parliament and constitution. Saleh may return from medical care in the U.S. after the vote to head his party, the General People"s Congress, as it prepares to contest the next presidential election, party spokesman Tareq al-Shami said in an interview.

"We are going to be the strongest party in Yemen and we will win with a big majority," al-Shami said.

Spare More Deaths

Saleh agreed to relinquish power in the Arab world"s poorest country after months of protests inspired by the revolts that forced out leaders in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Gulf Cooperation Council states, led by Saudi Arabia and backed by the U.S., had sought to resolve Yemen"s conflict to reduce instability in the region. At least 900 people died in the unrest.

Tunisia"s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia in January 2011, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was toppled a month later and is currently on trial, while Libya"s Muammar Qaddafi was killed in October.

"Of all the Arab leaders who faced the protest of the Arab Spring, Saleh is the only one who left through a negotiated settlement to a certain degree on his own terms," Alley said. "The settlement spared the country more bloodshed and that is a very positive aspect of the agreement."

Yemen is the only country touched by the so-called Arab Spring to undertake a transition on the basis of a negotiated settlement. This gives Yemenis a chance to resolve issues and avert some of the problems facing other countries, U.S. Ambassador Gerald Feierstein said in a Feb. 20 interview in Sana"a.

Fighting Extremism

Today"s vote "should provide a closure for the protests in the streets," Ibrahim Sharqieh, a researcher at the Brookings Doha Center, said in an e-mail.

The post-election transition must include a reorganization of security forces, stable economic growth and strong government institutions, which are "all critical elements in achieving success against al-Qaeda and extremism in general," Feierstein said.

Saudi Arabia, the world"s largest oil exporter, shares a border with Yemen and has been targeted in the past by Yemen- based militants from al Qaeda. Yemen is the home of Osama bin Laden"s ancestors.

More than 100,000 soldiers have been deployed to provide security at polling stations, Judge Saba al-Hajji, a member of the Supreme Elections and Referendum Commission, said in a Feb. 18 press conference. About 12 million Yemenis are eligible to vote, state-run Saba news agency said on Feb. 19.

Turnout may be low because of the sole candidate and a call to boycott the election by secessionists in the south and Houthi rebels in the north. Polls open at 8 a.m. local time and results may be released a few days after.

Courtesy: Bloomberg Businessweek