Observers: These elections were a milestone in Yemeni political history [Archives:2006/984/Front Page]
Nadia Al-Sakkaf
SANA'A, September 21 ) The recent presidential and local council elections are a significant and positive development in the country's democratic reform process although there are still some important shortcomings, according to the European Union Election Observation Mission. The mission presented its preliminary report at the Taj Sheba hotel on Thursday. Although prior to the announcement of the results and just one day after the elections, the report highlighted a number of important issues that need to be addressed by the political system.
“So far, this has been an open and genuine political contest that, with the full engagement of the ruling and opposition political parties, has been a milestone in Yemen's political history. The people had a clear choice and, overall, all sides were able to campaign freely at public rallies.”
“Generally, we saw that voting procedures were conducted very well in 82 percent of the polling stations we visited countrywide. We shall now be observing the counting and tabulation process before we make our final assessment.” said Baroness Emma Nicholson, Chief Observer of the European mission.
“However, the elections were negatively affected by a number of important issues and it is essential that these are tackled with all seriousness and urgency,” said Nicholson.
Some of the problems Nicholson pointed out include the amount of state resources used by the ruling part and a perception of partisanship within the decision-making of the election administration.
There is also a lack of equality in the political forum, according to Nicholson.
“It is crucial that Yemen addresses the secondary status given to women and the low levels of literacy that exclude so many people in this country from the political process,” she added.
Female candidates could not compete in the presidential elections because a low says candidates need a five percent endorsement from the parliament and Shoura Council and no women were endorsed. Nicholson believes the law needs to be changed to allow female presidential candidates.
Other observations were highlighted such as low accuracy, arrests of opposition supporters and pressure on female candidates running for local council. The mission also reported seeing visibly underage voters, violations of voters' secrecy and there were problems of crowding in many of the women's centers.
Some Yemeni activists questioned the coverage of the mission, but Richard Chambers, deputy chief observer, said the mission's performance in Yemen was standard to that in any other country. During the mission they covered 174 rural centers and 147 urban centers during the preparation and had people present during the counting and tabulation of results, he said.
“There is no place that we would not have gone and security issues did not deter us from observing the electoral process,” added Chambers.
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