Letters to the Editor [Archives:1999/18/Letters to the Editor]

Dear Editor, 
It is right that we have heavy hearts these days. Recently, the Supreme Elections Committee  met the leaders of the political  parties and declared that it will form committees to correct the electoral schedules. 
Observers and other people  have a negative picture of democracy in Yemen. That is because of the many shortcomings. First of all, there are the ghost names. Then there are the repeated names. Then there are the names of the dead. Plenty of childrenÆs names. 
We know that the base of participation in the elections is the registration list of voters. If the lists are correct, the voting will lead to the right persons winning. If they are not, the results will not be correct. 
We donÆt deny that we are a æbackwardÆ country suffering from a high ratio of illiteracy – over 50%. There is also political illiteracy among the majority of our people as they may not know the meaning of it all. 
So we need to teach the people. Education will help us get rid of ignorance. This takes a long time, needs a lot of money, and requires big efforts. I believe the government has no  intention to tackle this matter, but I hope that the SEC will do what is right.  Khalid Ahmad al-Kasheri,  Aden
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