PRESS CONFERENCE BY FOREIGN MINISTER OF YEMEN

 

Yemen would like to see a United Nations Secretary-General who believed in a better representation of all the world’s cultures and regions, that country’s Foreign Minister, Abubakr Al-Qirbi, said at Headquarters press conference today.

Noting that his country did not believe regional criteria were important, he said what the United Nations needed was a candidate who would work for the international community as a whole.  Yemen congratulated outgoing Secretary-General Kofi Annan on his tenure as the head of the Organization.

Discussing aspects of yesterday’s presidential and local elections in Yemen, he said five candidates had run for President.  There were 9 million registered voters, 40 per cent of whom were female.  As of today, 530,500 citizens had voted, but that number would increase as more districts reported.  Ali Abdullah Saleh, the incumbent President, had won 80 per cent of the vote and the leading opposition candidate over 19 per cent.  The campaign had been very competitive, with rallies being held all over the country and attended by tens of thousands of people.  It would take another day or two for the final election results to be confirmed.

He said Yemen had 25 political parties, of which the largest were the ruling People’s Congress, the Islah and the Socialist Party.  The latter two had formed an opposition coalition from which a presidential candidate had been chosen to run against the incumbent.  In the weeks prior to the election, the opposition bloc had threatened to boycott the elections unless it was granted greater representation on the independent Higher Committee for Elections, which oversees all elections in Yemen.  The opposition coalition’s request had been accepted, and its representatives on the Committee had increased from seven to nine.  Both parties had an equal voice on the Higher Committee for Elections, and there had been much debate about ensuring that equal time for the opposition on television and in the press.

When asked about reports of fraud during the elections, the Minister said there had been 15,000 observers in the country, including 120 from the European Union, others from the United States, and still others from Arab countries and foreign embassies.  The observers had rated the fairness of the elections as “very good”, an important step in ensuring that Yemen continued on the path of democracy.

Mr. Al-Qirbi stressed that the outside world needed to understand democracy in Yemen, taken within the context of the Arab world.  The electoral process, which included a true opposition party and an incumbent candidate, was unprecedented in the region.

Asked about his reaction to the General Assembly address by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, and whether the United Nations was “anti-America”, he replied that it was very important for the forum to remain open and for free speech to be respected.  While there was some anti-American feeling, it was not against the American people but the policies of their Government.  Because of the differences over how to resolve the Middle East crisis, the Arab nations and the United States were working towards resolving those issues.  President Chávez had not been careful in some of his word choices, but that should not reflect upon the United Nations.

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For information media • not an official record