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Further Reading

Politics

Government loyalists clashed with protesters in Yemen on Thursday 17 February 2011, as demonstrations calling for the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh broke out for a seventh day. Witnesses said the anti-government protesters had gathered at Sana'a University in the capital and clashed with loyalists armed with batons and daggers. One person was killed Wednesday during a clash between demonstrators and police in the southern city of Aden. Protesters calling for President Saleh's resignation also maintained a vigil in a central square in the southwestern city of Taiz. Some demonstrators have put up makeshift tents in the square, mirroring actions taken during recent anti-government protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Hundreds of pro- and anti-government protesters gathered 03 February 2011 in different parts Yemen's capital, Sana'a, on what opposition supporters called a "day of rage." The rallies come a day after President Ali Abdullah Saleh told Yemen's parliament he will not try to extend his presidency when his current term runs out in 2013, and that his son would not seek to be his successor. Mr. Saleh, who has ruled for 32 years, also called for a halt to all planned demonstrations. The Yemeni opposition said it welcomed his announcement, but said it would continue a string of rallies activists have said were inspired by demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt. The opposition had not demanded Mr. Saleh's ouster thus far, but has asked for reforms and a smooth transition of power through elections.

Popular protests across the Arab world spread to Yemen, where thousands of demonstrators turned out across the capital, Sana'a, on Thursday 27 January 2011. The crowds called for the ouster of President Ali Abdallah Salih, who had been in office for decades, and for economic reform. The Yemen Post newspaper reported that many opposition demonstrators carried banners condemning poverty, calling for new elections and demanding change. It added that pro-government rallies also took place in other cities.

Yemen's interior minister, Mutahir al-Masri, indicated that security forces have been told to protect the demonstrators and that no violence has been reported. He says that up to 1,200 people turned out to demonstrate at one location, while three to five thousand others turned out in another. He added that Yemeni security forces are doing their utmost to protect the demonstrators, who were expressing the will of the people.

A protest organizer in Sana'a criticized President Salih for enriching himself and not working in the interest of the nation. He said that President Salih has not respected agreements that his party has signed and that he worries only about his personal interests and treats most people in Yemen like "slaves."

Yemen in the 21st Century reflects the takeover in the 1970s of the Yemeni state by northern Zaydi tribesmen through their acquiring a dominant presence in the military officer corps. The historical tension in both the pre-modern and modern Yemeni states was between state power, representing urban and non-tribal populations derived from the Shafa'i (Sunni) peasantry who live in the fertile lands of lower Yemen, and northern tribesmen who herald from the harsh and barren lands of upper Yemen. Upper Yemen could not support significant settled agriculture, so northern tribes from that area supplemented their income through livestock herding, trade, and most importantly, raiding the more prosperous communities of lower Yemen. The state has never enjoyed full control over the tribes but has established a delicate balance of power vis-a-vis the major tribes based on the sharing of economic and political benefits of power.

In the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY), all political parties were amalgamated into the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP), which became the only legal party. In the aftermath of the 1994 civil war, Yemen Socialist [YSP] leaders within Yemen reorganized the party and elected a new politburo in July 1994. However, the party remained disheartened and without its former influence. In 1994, amendments to the unity constitution eliminated the presidential council. President Ali Abdullah Saleh was elected by Parliament on October 1, 1994 to a 5-year term. In April 1997, Yemen held its second multiparty parliamentary elections. The country held its first direct presidential elections in September 1999, electing President Ali Abdullah Saleh to a 5-year term in what were generally considered free and fair elections.

Constitutional amendments adopted in the summer of 2000 extended the presidential term by 2 years, creating a seven-year presidential term. The constitution provides that henceforth the President will be elected by popular vote from at least two candidates selected by the legislature. The amendments also extended the parliamentary term of office to a 6-year term, with the next elections occurring in 2009. On February 20, 2001, a new constitutional amendment created a bicameral legislature consisting of a Shura Council (111 seats; members appointed by the president) and a House of Representatives (301 seats; members elected by popular vote). In April 2003, the third multiparty parliamentary elections were held with improvements in voter registration for both men and women and in a generally free and fair atmosphere. Two women were elected. In September 2006, citizens re-elected President Saleh to a second term in a generally open and competitive election, although there were multiple problems with the voting process and use of state resources on behalf of the ruling party.

The General People's Congress (al-Mu'tamar), or GPC, is generally similar to other party machines, from Mayor Daley's Democratic Party in Chicago to the current day National Democratic Party in Egypt. That is, the GPC has no real ideology to speak of, and its raison d'etre is to distribute patronage to any local leader wishing to participate in the system. The GPC can set up employment for clients of local patrons, it can arrange for projects to be built in the parliamentary districts of its members, and given the absence of disclosure laws, it can distribute funds as it deems necessary. The boundary separating the state's finances from the GPC's is not clear. While the state awards bloc grants to parties based on their number of seats in Parliament (so the GPC gets 80% of this money), it is widely believed that such open distributions to the GPC make up only a small fraction of state monies that find their way into the GPC coffers.

Political parties are not allowed to have permanent symbols posted in public. However, one frequently sees the GPC's rearing horse symbol on buildings, including right next to ministries and other government buildings. Political parties are also supposed to have equal access to state media during campaign periods. The advantage of incumbency here is that the state's media monopoly ensures continuous coverage of President Salih as head of state, though he is also the GPC's presidential candidate; again, in established democracies, the incumbent leader also receives considerable-some would argue disproportionate-media attention because he is head of state and/or government.

Yemen's elected Parliament has been largely impotent. This is due in large part to (1) GPC political domination-the party controls almost 80% of the seats and most leadership positions; (2) the sociopolitical profile of a majority of MPs-many with low, or very low, levels of education and even functional illiteracy, and many with military and security backgrounds; and (3) various constitutional and legal constraints on parliamentary roles and responsibilities.

Because of the GPC's internal diversity; the presence of some opposition MPs; and the fact that many MPs have their own individual, tribal and regional interests and agendas, Yemen's Parliament possesses a certain political fluidity and occasionally a dynamism which MPs can exploit.

The next Parliamentary elections were due in April 2009 but following a dispute between the main parties were postponed until 2011. Yemen's first direct Presidential election (September 1999) was won comfortably by President Saleh. A referendum held in 2001 extended the presidential term from five years to seven years. The next Presidential elections are scheduled for September 2013.