Saleh's deputy takes oath of office after sham election

Yemen's new President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi arrives to take the oath of office during a ceremony at the parliament, Sana’a, February 25, 2012

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/228516.html

The former deputy of Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh has been sworn in as the country’s new president after winning a US-backed one-man vote.

Saleh’s ex-deputy Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi was the single candidate in the presidential vote that took place on Tuesday, which was described by pundits as a mockery of democracy. He will lead Yemen for a two-year interim period.

"It is a patriotic and religious duty to continue the battle against Al-Qaeda," claimed the new Yemeni president.

"If we don't restore security, the only outcome will be chaos," Hadi said.

Saleh, who returned home from a “medical visit” to the United States late on Friday, is set to formally hand over power to Hadi in a ceremony at the presidential palace on Monday.

Saleh traveled to New York in late January allegedly to receive treatment for wounds sustained in an attack on his palace last year. The Yemeni people have slammed the US government for sheltering a man whom they blame for the deaths of a large number of protesters since a revolution began in January 2011.

The protesters now want the prosecution of the 69-year-old Saleh and his aides over the regime's deadly crackdown on peaceful demonstrators during the past year.