Yemen's elections
Nearly eight million Yemenis will go to the polls on Sunday, to elect a new parliament, the third since the fledgling democracy started in 1990. Nasser Arrabyee reports from Sana'a
Amid heated competition, 1396 candidates, representing 21 political parties as well as independents, will compete for 301 seats throughout Yemen. Only one small liberal political party boycotted the elections.
The four major political parties currently have 650 candidates this election. An additional 405 candidates are running as independents, but are still supported by the larger parties. Finally, 341 candidates representing the 17 smaller parties, are not represented in the outgoing parliament.
The ruling People's General Congress (PGC), holds 297 seats. The largest opposition party, the Islamic oriented Islah, holds 185 seats. The Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP) currently holds 105 seats, while the Unionist Popular Nasserite Party (UPNP) has 63 seats.
Early indicators are that all the major political forces will be represented in the coming parliament, yet no coalition government is expected. Taking account of the new external environment, Islah will leave no stone unturned in its bid to keep its previous position.
YSP's participation is a new development in this election. The party is still trying to revive itself after its leaders were exiled during the 1994 civil war and after boycotting the 1997 elections. In addition YSP is also coordinating with historic opponent, Islah, and four other nationalist parties, including the UPNP. The group formed what they call a "Joint Meeting or Common Ground". This is likely to mean that the momentum for competition will be stronger than 1997, but not as strong as 1993 when YSP was a key partner of the ruling party.
Unfortunately, the parties seemed to have failed to help women run for elections, but have succeeded in exploiting women's votes in their favour. The PGC accepts women candidates but it does not rely on them to guarantee victory. The party has one woman MP, from the southern governorate of Aden, in the outgoing assembly. In previous elections, Islah did not field any women candidates as a matter of policy. YSP, the most open-minded party, and respectful of women's issues announced four women candidates.
For social and political reasons, the number of women candidates has decreased from 45 (compared to 3000 men) in the 1993 elections to 17 (compared to 4000 men) in 1997 and only 11 in this election. Two women have won parliamentary seats in each of the previous terms. However, women voters have rapidly increased each of the previous terms. In 1993, there were 500,000 votes cast by women. The number increased to 1,500,000 in 1997 and is expected to reach 3.5 million votes from women this election.
Surprisingly, most Yemenis no longer pin much hope on elections as a means to bring about fundamental change in their lives. There is public resentment of laws that are not applied as well as complaints of negative tribal influence on the election process. These two factors are considered the most important reasons attributed to the weakness of the country's democratic performance.
Jamal Amer, a well-known journalist, told Al- Ahram Weekly "the law is unfortunately not applied by the opposition nor by the authorities."
According to Amer the two main reasons attributed to the disrespect of the law are: a weak state and its inability to enforce the law as well as the lack of education and awareness of the law among the people. "We are not expecting any change from the coming parliament -- we know it will be absolutely subordinated to the government. What will happen in elections now is just replacing the fathers with sons, or sometimes a tribesman with another. So it will be weaker, and worse."
Undoubtedly, the tribal structure of Yemeni society has direct and significant influence on the political parties. The 22 recognised official political parties understand very well the role played by the tribes. Consequently, they all work hard to gain loyalty from the tribal chiefs -- at times tempting them with money or posts.
The two major parties competing for the attention of tribal personalities are PGC and Islah. This, however, does not imply that other parties do not depend on tribal support. The reality is that all parties in Yemen require some support from the tribe in order to succeed.
Since the first election in 1993, tribesmen have often designated certain regions to a specific influential figure so that they may run for office without any competitors. No one dares to compete in these regions except to show observers that there is competition.
The Hashed tribe, which is the largest and most influential tribe in Yemen, has allocated five such regions. One was designated for Sheikh Abdullah Al-Ahmar, chief of the tribe and the current speaker of parliament, and the others to his four sons. They win easily each time in these regions. Elections were temporarily suspended by the Supreme Committee for Elections and Referendum (SCER), the country's highest election body, after Al- Ahmar's eldest son opened fire on the governor of Amaran just north of Sana'a.
"The tribe is the nucleus of the Yemeni society, it is the strongest supporter of the state, and the tribe knows the democratic system," says Sheikh Al-Ahmar.
But Abdul-Qader Abdul-Ghani'a senior socialist official, disagreed. "Democracy depends on a civil society governed by law and order. Since the tribe still has a lot of influence and civil society is weak, the future of democracy is connected with modernising these civil society organisations."
Despite the 22 political parties signing an accord to avoid violence during the elections, nine individuals were reportedly injured in shooting incidents. The agreement is seen by some individuals who signed the document, as just one more example of a document that is not respected. "The accord will be added to the previous documents which are not honoured in this country. It will be like the constitution and the laws of this country," Mohamed Al- Yadoomi, secretary-general of the Islah Party told the Weekly after the signing ceremony.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 24 - 30 April 2003 (Issue No. 635)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/635/re6.htm