As Election Hysteria Dominates the Scene in the Last Days of Election Campaigning 70,000 Troops to Secure Local Elections [Archives:2001/08/Law & Diplomacy]
Hassan Al-Zaidi,
Yemen Times
Under extremely tense security measures with more than 70,000 troops surrounding electoral centers and poll stations, tomorrow, February 20, Yemeni electors will be heading to the polls to elect the ones who will be representing them in their respective local councils. There are currently thousands of armed troops equipped with all sorts of artillery machinery and wireless communication equipment (walkie-talkies) seen all over the country, particularly at polling stations. Military units are in their top readiness and security officials are working around the clock to prevent any sort of expected violence or armed confrontations, especially in tribal areas. Brigadier General Ali Salah of the Security Committee of the Supreme Elections Committee (SEC) stated that all security forces have been given top-ranking instructions to be highly alert in case of any act of violence anywhere in the country.
According to official statistics, more than 34,000 candidate (145 women) are applying in the elections, less than half of them independent, 6,000 of the PGC, 3,800 of Islah, and 2,100 YSP, and the rest from other parties including members of the Opposition Supreme Coordination Council.
All of the 34,000 candidates are competing for just 7,032 positions in the first local councils of the Republic of Yemen.
Along with the local council elections, Yemenis will also be voting either in favor of or against the 17 constitutional amendments in a national referendum to be held along with the local council elections.
Observers and political analysts say that acts of violence are expected to occur in many areas where there is heavy military presence by the armed forces. In particular, some tribal regions such as Mareb, Jowf, and Al-Dhale’ are expected to witness confrontations during the hours of elections. In fact, deadly conflicts in many areas in the country had already started to emerge as a number of deaths and injuries occurred in many governorates. Last week, a candidate of Islah was killed in Ibb governorate, while another PGC candidate was injured. An armed confrontation in electoral Center (126) in Amran Governorate resulted in the death of 3 and injury of many others, leading to the halting of the electoral preparation activities in the region. Another major incident occurred last week when a large convoy including the Ministry of Trade and Supply, Mr. Abdulaziz Al-Kumaim was subject to an assassination attempt by an armed group in Mahweet governorate after the delegation was on its way back after launching a water project in the area. Governorates of Lahj and Al-Dhale’ also witnessed some armed showdowns for reasons related to local council elections.
On another level, the war of words among the largest parties continued to intensify during the last few days, particularly between the Islah and PGC. Al-Mithaq Weekly, mouthpiece of the PGC waged a war of accusations against Islah in particular, and all opposition parties in general. In its latest issue, Al-Mithaq openly accused Islah of violations and the use of religion in its campaigns for its candidates. It also considered Islah’s ambiguous stand in whether it is with or against amendments as self-contradictory due to the fact that it approved the amendments in the parliament. PGC supports its claims against Islah by pointing at the internal contradictions within Islah as members of the radical wing lead by Sheik Abdulmajeed Al-Zindani is openly against the constitutional amendments as they see them as a means to limit the freedoms and rights of the public and give the regime more central authority. The official viewpoint of Islah however is represented by members of the tribal moderate wing of the party lead by Sheikh Abdullah bin Hussein Al-Ahmar, who does indeed support the constitutional amendments. From what has been so far observed from its campaign, the PGC is trying to bring an image of Islah as a divided party with no clear vision.
On the other hand, Al-Sahwa Weekly, mouthpiece of Islah responded vigorously by accusing the PGC of abusing its administrative and financial powers to support its candidates. The newspaper even published a check of the PGC to support one candidate in its latest edition’s last page. The newspaper blamed the PGC for the deteriorating economic, social and security conditions of the country within the last four years. It openly accused the PGC government of being the most corrupt government that ever ruled Yemen. The official media, which is obviously biased in favor of the PGC has given the constitutional amendments priority by focusing on official governmental events and symposiums that call upon the public to say “YES” to the amendments.
On another level, the initial plan of the member parties of the Opposition Supreme Coordination Council caused a lot of optimism in gaining significant votes in the elections. However, the unity of the parties was not further emphasized or even mentioned weeks after its declaration, which led to a general belief by the public that there is no more a united opposition, especially after some parties decided to boycott the elections, while others did not declare a clear position regarding constitutional amendments. In some cases, smaller opposition parties also openly endorsed the constitutional amendments.
Opposition parties along with Islah continued during the last days to accuse the PGC of abusing its powers to influence the public’s opinion through official media and public funds. Opposition parties claim that the SEC openly gave priority to PGC in terms of number of candidates and flexibility in nominations. They say that the SEC’s bias stand became clearer when it revealed the lists of electors, which indicated that the number of electors were higher than the population in some areas.
In opinion polls held by many independent organizations including Yemen Times, the PGC -just as expected- seems to havea good change in getting the largest share of local councils in the country, just as it dominates the house of parliament. Despite the fact that polls show that there is very little awareness about the details of local elections and the 17 constitutional amendments, they also show that PGC candidates will probably win all governorates where PGC influence is strong such as Ibb, Mahweet, Sanaa, Dhamar, Amran. Islah on the other hand is competing in governorates such as Mareb, Al-Jowf and some areas in Hadramout, Taiz, and Hodeidah. The YSP however, has good chance in gaining ground in Aden, Dhale’ and Lahj. This comes in a time observers claim that there is good coordination between Islah and YSP in an effort to limit the influence of PGC in some provinces, particularly in the southern and eastern parts of the country. This made the PGC launch a new war of accusations against both opposition parties to the level where it accused them of trying to cause disruption to national integrity.
Some NGOs and interested committees confirmed that there indeed is vigorous competition among the three strongest parties to a level that may cause illegal and undemocratic action. Some supervisory committees expect some violations to take place during the electoral process, particularly in the referendum for constitutional amendments.
Some experts from international organizations including the Washington-based National Democratic Institute and Human Rights Watch say that this is a normal consequence of holding premature local councils elections in such a short time with little preparation. Many sources describe the last two weeks as the nastiest weeks in the history of Yemen in terms of election campaigning as accusations of all sorts were displayedopenly and straight forward to the public through faxes, newsletters, newspaper reports, etc. The dirty campaign reached a level in which religious, racial, and secessionist claims were used, which may unfortunately, have a long-lasting damaging effect on the public’s opinion regarding elections in the future.
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