Violence hits Yemen before vote

SANAA - The Associated Press

People sit in the stands under a poster of the likely next president Hadi.

Gunmen blew up a voting station yesterday in southern Yemen, one day before the country is to go to the polls to rubber stamp its vice president as the new head of state.

The attack in the port city of Aden underlines the security vacuum in the country after a one-year popular uprising seeking to oust longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Under a U.S.-backed deal brokered by Yemen’s Gulf Arab neighbors, Saleh’s deputy, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, is to become president after a vote today in which he is the only candidate. 

Posters and huge banners brandishing Hadi’s photo and urging Yemenis to vote have appeared throughout the capital Sanaa as the vote approaches. Thousands of people attended an electoral rally early yesterday in support of Hadi. Hadi, a low-profile figure who has served under Saleh for years, did not attend the event and has rarely addressed the public.