Yemen’s Hadi inherits challenge

SANAA, Yemen – Yemenis flocked to the polls across their battered nation Tuesday to vote in a U.S.-backed, single-candidate election meant to instate a new leader to replace the outgoing autocrat.

Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi is set to be declared president in the coming days, which will make his predecessor, Ali Abdullah Saleh, the fourth leader to be pushed from power in the Arab Spring uprisings that erupted early last year.

While the voters were largely hopeful – with some waiting in long lines to cast ballots bearing only Hadi’s name – the new leader will face tremendous challenges as he tries to lead the Arab world’s poorest country out of its year-old political crisis, which has shattered the economy, splintered the security forces and allowed al-Qaida to seize swaths of territory.

President Barack Obama voiced his support for Hadi before the vote, and the administration’s top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, met Hadi in Yemen over the weekend.