SANAA, 28 September 2006 — President Ali Abdullah Saleh vowed yesterday to pursue Yemen’s battle against terrorism after being sworn in for another seven-year term following a landslide election victory last week.
“Yemen will continue its fight against terrorism,” Saleh, 72, told Parliament after taking the oath of office.
Saleh, who won 77.2 percent of the vote on Sept. 20, said he would also crack down on corruption, which is rife in the impoverished Arab state.
Opposition politicians acknowledged on Tuesday Saleh’s re-election, dropping their accusations of vote rigging and threats of protests.
However, opposition candidate Faisal Bin-Shamlan, who gained only 21.82 percent of the votes against a commanding 77.17 percent share of ballots for incumbent Ali Abdullah Saleh, said the results did not reflect the people’s will.
“The people’s resolve for change could not be defeated and our peaceful struggle would not stop whatever the hindrances are,” Bin-Shamlan, 72, told a press conference in Sanaa.
“We accept the results today as a reality,” he said.
The country’s five major opposition parties which backed Bin-Shamlan said in a statement that they have agreed to accept the election results for the sake of peace and stability.
“The conditions now are not suitable for a democratic change and any confrontations would hold back the process of the peaceful change that has begun,” read the statement.
Saleh, who first took office as leader of the then North Yemen in 1978, has survived a 1994 civil war with the former communist south and Al-Qaeda-inspired violence that hit the country in 2000.
