SANAA, 26 April 2003 — Yemenis go to the polls tomorrow for the third parliamentary elections since reunification in 1990 amid government accusations that opposition parties have links with terror groups.
But the republic’s main 22 political parties have at least signed a 32-point “code of honor” aimed at putting an end to the violence that has marred the two previous elections. Electoral debates have in the past degenerated into armed clashes between rival tribes in Yemen. Yemen’s electoral committee announced on April 21 that it had suspended polling in a constituency north of the capital because of violence.
The ruling General People’s Congress (GPC) said the move in the Omran constituency, 60 km from Sanaa, was taken after the convoy of Omran Governor Taha Hajer came under an “armed attack” last Wednesday from Sadok Abdullah Al-Ahmar, rival candidate for the opposition group Al-Islah.
The attack was a “crime and against the electoral code,” the committee said in reference to the code of honor.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh has ordered an investigation into the attack after the Omran governor presented his resignation in protest, according to official sources.
The mud slinging between GPC and Al-Islah has continued, with GPC’s mouthpiece Al-Mithaq accusing Al-Islah’s counterpart Assahawa of being the “Taleban-Yemen newspaper.”
However, officials from the GPC and Al-Islah said the two parties had issued a call for tomorrow’s elections to pass off without incident. Mosque leaders have been instructed to avoid inflammatory rhetoric and encourage Yemenis to take part in the polls, they told AFP.
Observers in south Yemen predicted that Al-Islah, which currently holds 62 of the 301 parliamentary seats, would lose out.
“Everybody here is bored of Al-Islah, especially after the government came out and fingered Al-Islah members for responsibility for extremist acts in Yemen,” one observer told AFP.
A poll of 3,800 people in three southern provinces carried out this week by Aden University put Al-Islah finishing behind the GPC, the Yemen Socialist Party (YSP) and even independent candidates.
“Al-Islah will be the biggest loser, while GPC is expected to hold on to its seats in the northern provinces,” the poll said.
The elections will see 1,536 candidates standing for 301 one-seat constituencies. The number of polling stations has been more than doubled to 5,621 to ensure full participation in rural communities.
GPC candidates number 296, while 212 are standing for Al-Islah and 107 for YSP. There are only 13 female candidates.
Eight million people over the age of 18 years will be eligible to vote, including 3.4 million women, organizers said.
The Supreme Commission for Elections and Referendum (SCER) said more than 35,000 civilian escorts had been mobilized to ensure proper vote counting procedure.
