Politics

The politics of Yemen takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Yemen is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. The Judiciary is theoretically independent but in reality it is prone to interference from the executive branch.

Although Yemen is notionally a pluriform multi-party system, in reality it is completely dominated by one party, the General People's Congress, and has been since unification.

Executive Branch

Under the constitution, an elected president, an elected 301-seat House of Representatives, and an appointed 111-member Shura Council share power. The president is head of state, and the prime minister is head of government. The constitution provides that the president be elected by popular vote from at least two candidates endorsed by Parliament; the prime minister is appointed by the president. The presidential term of office is 7 years, and the parliamentary term of elected office is 6 years. Suffrage is universal over 18.

The President is elected by direct, popular vote for a seven-year term. The vice-president, prime minister and deputy prime ministers are appointed by the President. The Council of Ministers is appointed by the President on the advice of the prime minister. President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been head of state in Unified Yemen since 1990, (since 1978 in North Yemen) and was democratically elected in 1999. In the September 2006 presidential elections, Saleh was challenged by a coalition of five leading opposition parties, the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), which fronted the candidate Faisal bin Shamlan.

Legislative Branch

The Assembly of Representatives (Majlis al-Nuwaab) has 301 members, elected for a six year term in single-seat constituencies. In May 1997, the president created a consultative council, sometimes referred to as the upper house of Parliament; its 59 members are all appointed by the president.

Judicial Branch

The constitution calls for an independent judiciary. The former northern and southern legal codes have been unified. The legal system includes separate commercial courts and a Supreme Court based in Sana'a. The Quran is the basis for all laws, and no law may contradict it. Indeed many court cases are debated by the religious basis of the laws - that is, by interpretations of the Quran. For this reason, many judges are religious scholars as well as legal authorities.

Foreign Relations

Yemen is a member of the United Nations, the Arab League, and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. Yemen participates in the non-aligned movement. The Gulf crisis dramatically affected Yemen's foreign relations; as a member of the UN Security Council (UNSC) for 1990 and 1991, Yemen abstained on a number of UNSC resolutions concerning Iraq and Kuwait and voted against the "use of force resolution". Western and Gulf Arab states reacted by curtailing or cancelling aid programs and diplomatic contacts. At least 850,000 Yemenis returned from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.

Subsequent to the liberation of Kuwait, Yemen continued to maintain high-level contacts with Iraq. This hampered its efforts to rejoin the Arab mainstream and to mend fences with its immediate neighbours. In 1993, Yemen launched an unsuccessful diplomatic offensive to restore relations with its Persian Gulf neighbours, and some of its aggrieved neighbours actively aided the south during the 1994 civil war. However, since the end of that conflict, tangible progress has been made on the diplomatic front in restoring normal relations: the Omani-Yemeni border has been officially demarcated, and in the summer of 2000, Yemen and Saudi Arabia signed an International Border Treaty settling a fifty year-old dispute over the location of the border between the two countries. Yemen settled its dispute with Eritrea over the Hanish Islands in 1998.

Human Rights

The human rights situation in Yemen is poor. The government and its security forces, often considered to suffer from rampant corruption, have been responsible for torture, inhumane treatment and even extra judicial executions.

Shia's are especially subject to abuse by the government of Yemen. According to the press reports, the Chief of the Yemeni Supreme Shia Council has stated, "(Iraqi) military men advised Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh to kill Shias in the country as did Saddam in Iraq". Many Shias have fallen victim to the Yemeni security forces. According to the U.S. Department of State human rights report in the year 2005, publishers were banned from distributing some books that espoused Zaydi-Shiite Islamic doctrine and the Yemeni government banned the celebration of Ghadeer Day, a holiday celebrated by some Shi'a, in the Saada governorate. The government also limited the hours reassigned some Imams who were thought to espouse Zaydi Shi'ite doctrine.

Human Rights Watch reported on discrimination and violence against women as well as on abolishment of the minimum marriage age of the age of fifteen for woman. The onset of puberty was set as a requirement for marriage instead. Reports of other forms of hostile prejudice directed towards disabled people, and ethnic and religious minorities were also reported. Censorship is actively practiced and in 2005 legislation was passed requiring journalists to reveal their sources under certain circumstances, and the government has raised the start-up costs for newspapers and websites significantly. In violation of the Yemeni constitution, the security forces often monitor telephone, postal, and Internet communications. Journalists who tend to be critical of the government are often harassed and threatened by the police.