US hails Yemen election

As polling closed in Yemen on Tuesday, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland hailed the end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year rule as a step towards democracy. She acknowledged, however, that the one-person vote was not "true democracy."

It is a "beginning point" for a more competitive process, Nuland told reporters.

"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."

As part of a power-transition deal brokered by Gulf Arab states and signed by Saleh in November, only Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, appeared on Tuesday's ballot. He will rule for an interim two-year period after being officially sworn in as president in the coming days.

As Saleh's successor, Hadi will be tasked with overseeing a country which has been in the grips of a deadly year-long uprising.

In a reflection of the deep divisions that still plague the poorest country in the Arab world, at least nine people were killed, including a child, in election-related violence in the south of the country on Tuesday.

The 10-year-old was killed near the election commission headquarters of the south's main port city of Aden after southern separatists clashed with police.

The separatists also seized half of the polling booths in the city, forcing officials to end voting there three hours early, security officials said.

ccp/pdf (Reuters, AFP, AP)