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CIAO DATE: 2/5/2007
Post-Election Report on the 2006 Presidential and Local Council Elections in Yemen
November 2005
Abstract
The simultaneous presidential, governorate council and local council elections in 2006 made them the most technically complex ever held in Yemen.
For the first time in the region, a head of state faced a credible opponent in a competitive electoral contest.
The elections were held in a political climate characterized by high levels of distrust of the Supreme Commission for Elections and Referendum (SCER) by the opposition Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) coalition.
Overall, and within the constraints and environment within which it had to operate, the SCER did a good job in preparing for the elections, and made real advances in some areas (e.g. training of election committees and of the military and security forces, and exercising its authority over the official media).
Following the apparent commitments by major political parties, the very low level of women candidates was a major disappointment.
Although there were irregularities and violations, a judgment about their effects on the election results, whether they were systematically organized in some areas or were sporadic, and the effectiveness of complaints and disputes procedures needs to await the full reports of the international and domestic election observers.
The priorities before the 2009 elections include amendments to the election law, an open and transparent boundary delimitation, a commitment by the SCER to be more open and transparent and to improve relations with political parties, better enforcement of the election law, improved women’s representation, improving the quality of the voter registers, citizenship education, and improving the electoral process for people with disabilities.
