es (301
seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 27 April 1997 (next to be held NA April 2001)
election results: percent of vote by party--NA; seats by party--GPC
189, Islah 52, Nasserite Unionist Party 3, National Arab Socialist
Baath Party 2, independents 54, election pending 1
note: in May 1997, the president created a consultative council,
sometimes referred to as the upper house of Parliament; its 59
members are all appointed by the president

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Political parties and leaders: there are over 12 political
parties active in Yemen, some of the more prominent are: General
SALAAM]
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 Islaah--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

Political pressure groups and leaders: NA

International organization participation: ACC, AFESD, AL, AMF,
CAEU, CCC, ESCWA, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD,
IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, ITU, NAM, OIC,
OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO,
WTrO (applicant)

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Abd al-Wahhab Abdallah al-HAJRI
chancery: Suite 705, 2600 Virginia Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Barbara K. BODINE
embassy: Dhahr Himyar Zone, Sheraton Hotel District, Sanaa
mailing address: P. O. Box 22347, Sanaa

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of red (top),
white, and black; similar to the flag of Syria which has two green
stars and of Iraq which has three green stars (plus an Arabic
inscription) in a horizontal line centered in the white band; also
similar to the flag of Egypt which has a symbolic eagle centered in
the white band

Economy

Economy--overview: Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab
world, reported strong growth in the mid-1990s with the onset of oil
production, but was harmed by low oil prices in 1998. Yemen has
embarked on an IMF-supported structural adjustment program designed
to modernize and stre