You have commented 375 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Arabia
Violence Taints Yemeni General Election
2003-04-27
EFL
But then, violence taints most things in Yemen, doesn't it?
Yemenis crowded polling stations on Sunday to vote for their third parliament since the country's unification in 1990, keen to show off their democratic credentials after the U.S.-led war on Iraq.
See? We're OK, don't JDAM us
Despite calls by officials and Muslim clerics to shun violence, witnesses said at least four Yemenis were wounded in shootouts between rival candidates.
Ballots, not bullets - you guys always get those backwards
The impoverished Arab country, with a population of 20 million, is eager to prove to the United States that its public has a say in governance, particularly after the war that toppled Iraq's Saddam Hussein. "Democracy is the savior of the rulers and the people," President Ali Abdullah Saleh told reporters after casting his ballot.
"So why don't you Merkins go lookin' at Zim-Bob-We or someplace. They're much worse than we are..."
Yemen is home to many Islamist militants and sympathizers of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. Around 8.9 million people are registered to vote, 40 percent of them women, a figure which is relatively high compared to Yemen's conservative Gulf Arab neighbors. Officials forecast turnout at about 70 percent.
Now that sounds downright progressive
Armed disputes have marred previous polls in Yemen, where many people still carry weapons almost a decade after the end of a 1994 civil war. Fighting in a 1997 parliamentary poll and a municipal election in 2001 left 31 people dead.
Posted by:Frank G

#2  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: The Marmot   2003-04-27 11:59:10  

#1  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Anonon   2003-04-27 11:16:36  

00:00