“The American elections are being held while Yemen faces turmoil … so most Yemenis have not been able to follow it.”

Ahmed al-Qurshi, human rights activist



The current round of American elections are being held while Yemen is facing turmoil and a very hard situation – statelessness, lawlessness, troubled security and a collapsing economy. This means that most Yemeni people have not been able to follow the process of the American elections, from beginning to end, and thus they do not care about its outcome.

The lack of power has prevented people from watching TV channels … People are busy following local news, and with their own daily needs. They are not following up on the international news, particularly the American election.

Moreover, the non-payment of wages of public-sector employees for the past three months has increased the suffering of the people, who are focusing on survival throughout the country.

The interference of superpowers in the humanitarian and human rights issues of smaller countries is not altered by changing the rulers in the United States, as its programmes and foreign policy will not change in any concrete way.

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Yemenis closely followed past US elections, as they have a small community of migrants in the US, and Yemen’s development policy was also linked indirectly to US foreign policy. But the current war in Yemen has changed the mood of Yemenis, as they are just busy with their own essential needs.

*As told to Khaled al-Hammadi