Yemen elections draw 5 million to the polls; president likely to be re-elected

SAN'A, Yemen — Roughly 5 million of 9.2 million eligible voters went to the polls here Wednesday in combined presidential and local elections, concluding a heated and sometimes deadly monthlong campaign.

At least 90,000 police and troops deployed in an attempt to minimize the violence that claimed at least seven lives in clashes between supporters of rival candidates in this country where small arms are freely available and gun ownership is the norm.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who in June reversed his earlier decision to step down after nearly three decades in power, is seeking a mandate for another seven-year term. His re-election is almost certain, observers said, raising questions about the pace of progress toward democracy, 15 years after Yemen became the first country to introduce universal suffrage to the Arabian Peninsula.

Hours after the polls closed, the elections commission said Saleh so far won 80 percent of the votes, with about 4 percent of 27,000 ballot boxes counted. The main challenger for the presidency, Faisal bin Shamlan, had 16 percent, said Khaled Sharif of the commission, but he did not say which areas the boxes came from.

"The prospect of replacing [President] Saleh probably scares a lot of people, because it would bring uncertainty and changes to the settled order," said Paul Harris, director of IFES, a pro-democracy organization in Washington that will take part in monitoring the election. "But the constitution now limits the president to serving two elected terms in office, which — if he wins this year — would set Saleh's retirement date for his 70s."

Yemen has been an ally to the U.S. in the global fight against terror. But critics maintain that corruption is rife here and the government is largely forced to rule through tribal proxies outside the capital, San'a. And Yemen has long had a reputation for cultivating and exporting terrorism. Bin Shamlan has been embroiled in election-eve allegations that his bodyguard was a senior al-Qaida militant planning attacks against U.S. interests in San'a.

Saleh, president of North Yemen and commander in chief of the armed forces prior to unification in 1990, emerged as Yemen's leader when the end of the Cold War led to the collapse of the Socialist government in South Yemen and concluded more than a decade of conflict.

During 28 years at the top, he has had to manage a complex network of tribal loyalties and military interests that run parallel to and often override party politics and parliamentary structures.

Whatever the outcome of the vote, Yemen must eventually move toward its first peaceful transfer of power, observers say, even if turns out to be an in-house affair.

The front-runner for succession is currently Saleh's son, Ahmed, who is head of the Republican Guard and Special Forces.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.