Yemeni voters ended President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 33-year rule in a historic ballot yesterday, pinning hopes on a new leader faced with the massive task of rebuilding an impoverished and war-ravaged country.

We will put the past behind us and turn a new page on which to write a new future

Polling stations began closing doors at 6 p.m. (1500 GMT) after a day of voting marred by deadly clashes in the south that left nine people dead, including a child.

The only name on the ballot yesterday was that of Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, who will lead Yemen for a two-year interim period as stipulated by a Gulf-brokered power-transition deal signed by Saleh in November.

“Today is the real fall of Ali Abdullah Saleh,” said 25-year-old college student Abdullah Ali after voting at a crowded Sanaa University polling station near Change Square, the focal point of mass protests last year demanding Saleh’s ouster.

“This is victory day for Yemen,” he said.

Women also came out in strength in the capital.

In a mad dash to a Sanaa polling booth just minutes before closing time, first-time voter Muneera Raddai, covered in a full black veil, was optimistic her vote would mean a better future for Yemen.

“Today is a remarkable day,” said the 19-year-old, adding that now “we can start building a new and better Yemen.”

The Arab world’s first female Nobel peace laureate, Tawakkul Karman, hailed the poll as a “day of celebration,” though she warned Mr Hadi “to work for young people who took to the streets a year ago” or else they will “force him out just as they did Saleh.”

Mr Hadi cast his ballot amid cheers and applause at a far more secluded polling station near his home in the capital, with close aides saying he was surrounded by heavy security because of death threats.

“This is a historic day for Yemen ... we will put the past behind us and turn a new page on which we will write a new future,” said Hadi.

The road ahead remains ripe with risk and potential pitfalls, warned Yemen’s UN envoy.