Yemen opposition says vote rigged, calls protests

SANAA, Sep 22 (Reuters) Yemen's opposition today accused the authorities on Friday of rigging presidential elections and said its supporters would march in the streets to protest early results showing President Ali Abdullah Saleh with a big lead.

Yemenis voted on Wednesday in the polls, in which Saleh faced four other candidates, the most prominent being Faisal al-Shamlan who was nominated by a coalition of opposition parties.

Preliminary official results showed Saleh was leading with more than 80 per cent of votes, with Shamlan trailing with about 16 per cent.

Officials said final results were expected later today.

The opposition believes Shamlan has secured around 40 per cent of the votes counted so far.

Opposition politicians accuse the government of seizing polling stations, evicting candidates' representatives, stealing ballot boxes and committing irregularities in vote counting for local councils.

''The results announced are rejected and not recognised at all.

(The election) commission implemented a state decision to announce a victory (for Saleh) and that does not reflect the reality,'' said Mohamed al-Qahtani of the opposition Islamist Islah party.

Qahtani said opposition leaders would urge their followers to stage street protests against the results.

''In the absence of a fair judiciary we have no other choice but to ask our supporters to take to the streets and ask international groups to count them (the votes),'' Qahtani added.

The European Union Election Observation Mission, which observed the vote, yesterday said in a preliminary report that although the polls were ''open and genuine'', there were shortcomings including overcrowding, breaches of secrecy of the vote, illegal assistance of voters and underage voters.

Saleh, a military officer who has ruled Yemen since its unification in 1990, enjoys near-absolute power. He won the first direct polls in 1999, which the opposition boycotted.

The three other hopefuls in the 2006 presidential elections -- two of them pro-government -- have little political experience and are standing as independents.

Yemen is the ancestral home of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and has cracked down on militants. It cooperated closely with Washington after the September 11 attacks and al Qaeda attacks at home, including the bombing of a US warship in 2000.

REUTERS DKA VV1706