Yemeni outgoing president Ali Abdullah Saleh said farewell to power on Monday and reiterated his call for all the Yemeni people to vote in the upcoming presidential elections due to be held on Tuesday.
In a tearful farewell speech read by a female presenter at the state-owned television, Saleh has reiterated his call for Yemenis to vote for his long time deputy and Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, the sole candidate for the Tuesday's election.
"I would like to seize this opportunity to reiterate my call for Yemeni men and women to exercise their constitutional-granted right and vote for Hadi," Saleh said.
"Dear brothers and sisters, we are quite confident that you will partake in the democratic process, which will preserve the nation and its accomplishments.
He has pointed out that the Yemeni people has suffered a lot of hardships and difficulties during the crisis that dragged for a year, calling on them to build mutual trust and put the past behind them.
"So I would like to take this opportunity to urge you to build brotherly-like mutual trust and cling to conciliation which obliges the conflicting parties to put the past behind them and move forward with hope, faith and mutual trust," said Saleh.
"I would like to thank our heroic military institution that is not and has never been owned by a person, tribe or party,"
"Dear brother and sisters, sons and daughters, I'm talking to you today with an open heart and with complete trust that you will cling on to the core principles for which you and your ancestors have sacrificed dearly: the revolution, republicanism, unity, democracy and freedom.
"I say farewell to power, which has always been to me as well as to all reasonable people a burden…. And I will always be an honest Yemeni citizen to his people." He concluded.