Description of Electoral System:

(courtesy of IFES election guide)

The President is elected by direct popular vote to serve a 7-year term. In the Shura Council 111 members are appointed by the president. In the House of Representatives (Majlis Annowab) 301 members are elected by popular vote to serve 6-year terms.

Electoral Systems Snapshot

(Courtesy of International IDEA)

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Most recent election

(courtesy of wikipedia)

The Yemen presidential election of 2006 was held on 20 September2006. Incumbent president Ali Abdullah Saleh of the General People's Congress party defeated the Yemen opposition coalition candidate Faisal Bin Shamlan. Municipal elections were also held on the same day.

According to election officials, with about 4% of ballot boxes counted Saleh had 82% of the vote and bin Shamlan had 16%. An election official also said that about five million people voted (out of 9.2 million eligible voters). The opposition disputed this overwhelming majority for Saleh, saying that the count gave Saleh 60% and bin Shamlan 40%, and it alleged electoral violations. The European Union Election Observation Mission called the election "an open and genuine contest", but with "important shortcomings". It said that at some polling stations there was intimidation, violation of voter secrecy, campaigning by the GPC, and underage voting (Donna Abu-Nasr, "Yemeni Opposition Alleges Violations", Associated Press, September 21, 2006).

Subsequent results, with most (17,000 out of 27,000) of the ballot boxes counted, continued to give Saleh an overwhelming majority, with 3.4 million votes against 880,000 for bin Shamlan. The opposition, alleging fraud, threatened a massive protest.

Final results on September 23 showed Saleh with 77.2% of the vote and bin Shamlan with 21.8%. Bin Shamlan subsequently accepted the results as a "reality", although he said that they did not reflect the people's will. Saleh was sworn in for his new term on September 27.