Yemeni Sole Presidential Candidate Wins 65% of Vote

RIA Novosti

07:43 25/02/2012 MOSCOW, February 25 (RIA Novosti) - Yemeni Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the sole candidate at the country’s presidential election this week, has garnered 65 percent of the vote, world media agencies reported on Saturday.

The head of the country’s election commission said some 6.6 million Yemenis out of 10.2 million eligible to vote took part in the election on Tuesday with 99 percent of them casting their votes in favor of Hadi.

Tuesday's vote was part of a deal brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council and backed by the West in a move to oust President Ali Abdullah Saleh following year-long public protests against his 33-year rule.

Though Saleh has stepped down in exchange for immunity from prosecution for him and his family, the clashes in Yemen have not stopped. Saleh later moved to the United States.

The U.S. Department of State said on Friday that Saleh left America, but did not specify where he headed. Some media reports suggested that he set off to Yemen to take part in the inauguration of Hadi, scheduled for February 27.