y ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state: President Field Marshall Ali Abdallah
SALIH (since 22 May 1990, the former president of North Yemen, assumed
office upon the merger of North and South Yemen); Vice President
Maj. Gen. Abd al-Rab Mansur al-HADI (since 3 October 1994) head of
government: Prime Minister Abd al-Qadir BA JAMAL (since 4 April 2001)
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the advice of
the prime minister election results: Ali Abdallah SALIH elected president;
percent of vote - Ali Abdallah SALIH 96.3%, Najib Qahtan AL-SHAABI 3.7%
elections: president elected by direct, popular vote for a seven-year term
(recently extended from a five-year term by constitutional amendment);
election last held 23 September 1999 (next to be held NA 2006); vice
president appointed by the president; prime minister and deputy prime
ministers appointed by the president

Legislative branch: a new constitutional amendment ratified on 20
February 2001 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 to serve
six-year terms) election results: Nasserite Unionist Party 3, National
Arab Socialist Baath Party 2, independents 54, election pending 1;
seats by party as of January 2002: Baath Party 2, YSP 2, independents
7 elections: last held 27 April 1997 (next to be held 27 April 2003)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Political parties and leaders: there are over 12 political parties
active in Yemen, some of the more prominent are: General People's Congress
or GPC [President Ali Abdallah SALIH]; Islamic Reform Grouping or Islah
[Shaykh Abdallah bin Husayn al-AHMAR]; National Arab Socialist Baath Party
[Dr. Qassim SALAAM]; Nasserite Unionist Party [Abdel Malik al-MAKHLAFI];
Yemeni Socialist Party or YSP [Ali Salih MUQBIL] note: President SALIH's
General People's Congress or GPC won a landslide victory in the April
1997 legislative election and no longer governs in coalition with Shaykh
Abdallah bin Husayn al-AHMAR's Islamic Reform Grouping or Islah - the
two parties had been in coalition since the end of the civil war in 1994;
the YSP, a loyal opposition party, boycotted the April 1997 legislative
election, but announced that it would participate in Yemen's first local
elections which were held in February 2001; these loca