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February 22nd, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Opposition groups have criticized Tuesday’s election because Vice President Abd Rabbuh Mansur al-Hadi was the only candidate.
While many viewed the election as a referendum on Hadi’s appointment, opposition groups boycotted the poll over concerns that it would not bring an end to Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime.
In the southern city of Aden, gunmen from the Southern Movement stormed half of the polling stations as part of a civil disobedience campaign. They also confiscated ballot boxes, saying that the election does not fulfill their aspirations for autonomy.
At least nine people were killed and many others injured in clashes between Southern Movement supporters and Yemeni security forces on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama has thrown Washington’s weight behind Yemen’s election, offering his support to Hadi.
In a letter to the Yemeni vice president, Obama said on Sunday that Yemen could be an example of a peaceful transition of power in the Middle East.
After Tuesday’s election, Hadi will lead Yemen for a two-year interim period as stipulated by a power transition deal which was brokered by the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council in November after months of protests calling for Saleh’s removal.
Saudi Arabia has exerted influence over Yemen for several years and seeks to use the election to maintain its sway over the country. However, Saudi Arabia’s rhetoric about democracy rings hollow since the country is an absolute monarchy that has always repressed the democratic aspirations of its own citizens.
The United States is also cynically trying to use Yemen’s one-candidate sham presidential election to realize its objectives in the region and just gives lip service to the idea of democratizing the region.
MHB/HGL
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