Veteran Yemen president faces first real electoral test

SANAA – Veteran Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh faces his first real electoral test in 28 years in power on Wednesday when the Middle East’s poorest country goes to the polls amid persistent Islamist and tribal unrest.

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 in Osama bin Laden’s ancestral homeland, but now faces a challenger at the ballot box backed by both Islamists and former communists. The 64-year-old father-of-seven, who has become a key partner in the US war on terror, is being taken on by former southern oil minister Faisal bin Shamlan, 72, in a test of Washington’s efforts to export democracy to the Middle East.”These elections are different never before has the contest been so fierce,” said Sanaa University political analyst Mohammed al-Sabri.”The president seems in two minds on the one hand he is proud of this democratic experiment, which he insists was his own idea, but at the same time he is worried about the challenge he is now facing.”Sabri said that at the very least the election should put paid to any ambition Saleh had to groom his son Ahmed to succeed him, as the late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad did his son Bashar.In the latest incident, four French tourists remained in custody in southern Yemen in the run-up to polling day, seized to press demands unheeded after an earlier abduction of German holidaymakers.Nampa-AFPThe 64-year-old father-of-seven, who has become a key partner in the US war on terror, is being taken on by former southern oil minister Faisal bin Shamlan, 72, in a test of Washington’s efforts to export democracy to the Middle East.”These elections are different never before has the contest been so fierce,” said Sanaa University political analyst Mohammed al-Sabri.”The president seems in two minds on the one hand he is proud of this democratic experiment, which he insists was his own idea, but at the same time he is worried about the challenge he is now facing.”Sabri said that at the very least the election should put paid to any ambition Saleh had to groom his son Ahmed to succeed him, as the late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad did his son Bashar.In the latest incident, four French tourists remained in custody in southern Yemen in the run-up to polling day, seized to press demands unheeded after an earlier abduction of German holidaymakers.Nampa-AFP