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CIAO DATE: 3/5/2007
Evaluating Political Reform in Yemen
Sarah Phillips
February 2007
Abstract
Since the Republic of Yemen was created in 1990 through the unification of the northern and southern states, the Yemeni regime has very consciously framed its policies in the language of democracy, while simultaneously muzzling initiatives that might help facilitate democratic consolidation. There has been a marked increase in the level of popular political activity, but the country's power structures have proven resilient to political reform.
Although the same president has been in power since before unification, Yemen is regularly portrayed as having made genuine moves toward democracy. The country was recently pushed into the spotlight by the presidential elections in which a credible opponent officially captured nearly 22 percent of the vote. The director of the National Democratic Institute's Middle East Program stated: "Having watched democratic developments for ten years in the Middle East, this may have been the most significant election so far." Yemen also has lively parliamentary and public political debates, in which citizens and opposition figures routinely criticize the government. The number of parliamentary votes for the main opposition party increased roughly four-fold between 1993 and 2003, and there is generally enthusiastic participation in the electoral process. President Ali Abdullah Saleh regularly makes declarations about the importance of democratic values. Indeed, the idea of an unfolding transition to democracy has become an important legitimizing platform for the Yemeni government, domestically and internationally.
