SANAA, 29 April 2003 — Yemenis yesterday awaited the results of the third parliamentary elections since reunification in 1990 after clashes left one soldier dead and 14 civilians injured.

The soldier was killed in a constituency in Taiz, 180 km south of the capital Sanaa, a local government source said. Fourteen civilians were also injured, mainly in Taiz.

Opposition sources charged late Sunday that there had been some voting irregularities in Taiz, and called for poll-counting to be halted.

Tension was also high in various constituencies in Ibb, Lahj and Omran, where the electoral process was temporarily halted last week after a failed assassination attempt by a candidate from the Islamist opposition Al-Islah party on the governor from the ruling General People’s Congress (GPC), electoral sources said.

GPC secretary-general Abdul Karim Al-Iriyani told journalists: “Generally speaking, the elections have passed off very smoothly and peacefully,” refusing to comment on any polling station results. “We are very pleased with the first stage of the elections,” said Iriyani, a former long-time Yemeni prime minister and foreign minister. “There are hundreds of claims of violence by the GPC and hundreds by the opposition, but this is absolutely normal.

“Let’s not make the exception the rule ... There’s always (violence) in elections anywhere in the world,” he said.

Iriyani hinted that Al-Islah leader Sheikh Abdullah Al-Ahmar would retain his position as speaker of the new parliament, describing the outspoken figure as a “common denominator” in Yemeni politics.

The GPC official also played down the war of words that has erupted between his party and Al-Islah, notably over the latter’s link to terror acts. “We are all democratic but during elections we say bad things about each other. The next day we are shaking hands and kissing cheeks.”

Results were expected to start coming in later yesterday.

The electoral commission has given polling stations 72 hours to submit their results to take into account the isolation of some stations in Yemen’s rugged hinterland.