UN: After Single-Candidate Vote, Yemen’s Democracy ‘Largely on Track’

The single-candidate election which installed US-backed Major General Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi as the new president of Yemen is setting pretty well with the United Nations, which insists that the nation’s democracy is “largely on track” thanks to the vote.

In fact, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is so keen on the “one candidate, one vote” model that that he is pushing it as a “model to achieve peace” across the Middle East, and is hoping to see others adopt it.

Special Envoy to Yemen Jamaal Ben Omar likewise cheered the current situation, expressing only concern about the “serious security concerns” facing the new regime, and demanding that other factions in Yemen continue to support Hadi in the name of “stability.”

Hadi replaced the former US-backed military dictator of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who eventually agreed to resign in the face of massive public protesters. The protesters were backed by a faction of the political opposition, who eventually negotiated a new regime in which Hadi replaced Saleh and they got control of key cabinet positions. The actual reforms sought by the protesters are now virtually forgotten.