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Yemen Politics
Yemen is a
republic with a bicameral legislature. 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 seven years, and the
parliamentary term of elected office is six
years. Suffrage is universal over 18 years of
age.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh became the first
elected President in reunified Yemen in 1999
[though he had been President of unified Yemen
since 1990 and President of North Yemen since
1978] and most recently was re-elected in
September of 2006 after an initial reluctance to
run once more. His victory was marked by an
election that international observers judged to
be "generally free and fair." Popular
demonstrations and editorials of support in
major papers helped change his mind to run
again. In April 2003 parliamentary elections
were held, and the General People's Congress
(GPC) maintained an absolute majority. There was
a marked decrease from previous years in
election-related violence; however, there were
some problems with underage voting, confiscation
of ballot boxes, voter intimidation, and
election-related violence.
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 Sanaá. Since the country
is an Islamic state, the Islamic holy book, the
Qur'an, is the basis for all laws, and no law
may contradict the Qur'an. Indeed many court
cases are debated by the religious basis of the
laws i.e. by interpretations of the Qur'an. For
this reason, many Judges are religious scholars
as well as legal authorities. Unlike Saudi
Arabia and other Islamic states, the consumption
of alcohol by foreigners is tolerated, and the
mild stimulant Qat is chewed by Yemenis of all
strata of society, despite being banned or
frowned upon by other Islamic countries and
groups.
The political elites of Yemen are the Hashid
tribe and the Bakeel tribe. President Ali
Abdullah Saleh and the Speaker of the Parliment
are from the Hashid Tribe.
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