Gulf | Yemen
Majority of Yemenis back polls
The majority of Yemenis support the holding of the provincial governors elections later this month, an official poll released yesterday showed.
- By Nasser Arrabyee, Correspondent
- Published: 15:51 May 6, 2008
Sana'a: The majority of Yemenis support the holding of the provincial governors elections later this month, an official poll released yesterday showed.
Some 78.3 per cent of Yemenis support the elections which will be held May 17. The poll was conducted by the Yemen Polling Centre (YPC), and was funded by the government. It included nearly 600 people, who hold bachelor's degrees.
Some 75.7 per cent of the total surveyed were men. Some 82 per cent of the sample was aged 20 to 39 years. And some 16.9 per cent were aged 40 to 59 years. Governors for the country's 21 provinces will be indirectly elected by some 7,000 members of the already existing local councils.
The main opposition parties have announced they will boycott the elections.
More than half of the respondents, 53.8 per cent, disagreed with the idea of electing a woman for the governor's post even if she met all favourable conditions.
Some 43.3 per cent of the respondents said they would vote for a woman if she met their conditions. According to the poll results, some 23.5 per cent of respondents who support the elections said the upcoming elections would be a step forward to the "enhancement of a democratic system."
Some 17.2 per cent of them believe that governors' elections will contribute to the process of transferring power to the local authority.
The remaining group believes that "the elections will expand public participation."
However, some 26.6 per cent of those who believe that the election has no significance justified their attitude by saying "the government is not serious in having a genuine democracy."
And 23.4 per cent of this group believes that "the winners in the election will be only those favoured by the government."
Some 19.5 per cent of the same group said "the election is meant to beautify the image of the regime" and the remaining 16.4 per cent of this group think "the election is meant to reduce political tension."
Qualities: The Best candidate
Some 31.4 per cent of respondents said the best governor must be "competent and honest". And 27.6 per cent of them said the best governor must be "highly qualified."
Some 70.7 per cent said the best governor is one who is from the same province.
Woman governor
The majority of respondents who are against "women governors" believe "society will not accept women as governors."
A sub-group of this majority thinks that nominating women for governor's post contradicts with Islamic teachings."
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