US Congratulates Yemen On ‘Successful’ Elections

The US congratulated here Tuesday the Yemeni people on the “successful” presidential election and “taking the next step in their democratic transition”.

State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters that the high turnout reflects “quite a bit of enthusiasm and ownership by the Yemeni people for this transition going forward”.

She added “this is only the first step in a long, complex transition scenario that was laid out by the GCC and accepted in the context of the government opposition talks in Yemen”.

“So over the next two years, we still need all of the following steps to be completed: We need this national dialogue that the plan calls for to be established,” she stressed.

She noted “that dialogue will set up a system for constitutional reform”.

“So we are encouraged. And we congratulate the Yemenis for really launching this process, taking ownership of it as a population. And we will stand with them as they take the next steps going forward,” she remarked.

Nuland affirmed that “we consider it to be a very strong and positive referendum by the Yemeni people on the transition process that their leaders have agreed to”.

According to Nuland, “this is the beginning. This is an interim stage in their democratic governance. And obviously, after they have a new constitution, our expectation is it will lead to full, free, fair, multi-party, multi-candidate elections, both for the legislature and for the executive”.