The Elections Law should be amended and the SCER should adopt regulations to establish a clear framework for the tabulation and publication of results at every stage so as to ensure that all results are published speedily, completely and accurately. In particular:
i. Greater steps should be taken to ensure that copies of the results from every polling station are displayed at polling centres immediately following the count.
ii. Main District Committees should publish copies of the results protocols from polling centres and individual polling stations immediately as they are submitted. MDCs should also immediately publish the protocol of their tabulated results.
iii. Partial and preliminary results should be published by the SCER and Supervisory Committees as soon as they are available.
iv. When publishing partial, preliminary or final results, the SCER should publish all available data, including results for all candidates, the number of voters who voted and the number of invalid ballots.
v. The Electoral Law should be amended to detail exactly what information should be published.
vi. When publishing preliminary or final results, the results should be broken down by governorate, district, polling centre and polling station.
vii. If publishing partial results, the SCER should clearly identify them as such and provide explanations for any changes when publishing later results.

The Elections Law should be amended to provide for the right of political parties to be represented on the SCER and lower-level commissions and to detail the criteria by which the level of their representation is determined.

The SCER should adopt by-laws or guidelines that specify the role and responsibilities of all areas of the election administration; in particular, clear terms of reference are required to outline the work of the branches of the SCER Secretariat and the Election Security Committees (ESCs).

The SCER should take genuine steps to address and prevent politically partisan behaviour within its structures, including a Code of Conduct for Commissioners and the members of staff of its Secretariat. In particular, SCER commissioners should specifically refrain from making public statements in support of or against candidates.

An effective and clear procedural framework should be established for complaints against alleged violations of the Election Law, detailing the manner and timeframes by which complaints are submitted, handled and resolved. In particular, the Elections Law should be amended to allow initial complaints to be brought to the attention of the SCER to ensure more appropriate resolution of administrative problems, with a right of appeal to a court.

The Elections Law should be amended and the SCER should adopt by-laws that specify procedures for the delimitation of constituency boundaries and for determining the number of local council seats per constituency. These should include proper opportunities for public consultation on proposed boundaries. The SCER and other Yemeni authorities must take urgent steps to ensure that appropriate boundaries are adopted ahead of the next scheduled parliamentary and local elections in 2009.

Ahead of the next formal update of the voter register, the SCER should implement an open and cross-party review of the voter register to identify ineligible names using published and consistent criteria. Persons identified by the review as being wrongfully included should be informed and provided with the opportunity to prove their eligibility. The SCER should remove all ineligible names using methods prescribed by law.

The SCER should ensure appropriate procedures are adopted to prevent under-aged persons from registering as voters.

Candidates for local council elections should have the right to challenge a decision to refuse their nomination. Election commissions should provide written reasons for the decision to refuse any candidate’s nomination. Consideration should be given to removing the literacy requirement for local council candidates.

Urgent and decisive action should be taken to ensure women are genuinely able to enjoy equal opportunities to participate in the electoral process. The Yemeni authorities, political parties, civil society, religious leaders and others of influence should make a genuine and public commitment to develop and implement a strategic programme that will promote and improve the role of women in every aspect of elections. The programme should include:
i. A full consultative review of the current and alternative electoral systems for parliamentary and local council elections to identify mechanisms for increasing the representation of women as active politicians in elected office that are appropriate to the Yemeni context, and to implement the recommendations of that review;
ii. Steps by all major political parties to ensure significantly more women are nominated as candidates to include:
a. establishing targets for the nomination of more representative numbers of women candidates;
b. the possibility for the coordinated nomination of all-women candidates for constituencies;
c. provision of financial resources, campaign assistance and public endorsements for women candidates from political leadership, with matching steps from the SCER and Yemeni authorities to support independent women candidates and to protect women candidates from harassment and undue pressure;
d. greater participation by women in official positions with decision-making responsibility within political parties and the development of political role models for women;
e. political parties to appoint women as members of election commissions.
iii. A strategic nationwide programme of civic and voter education by the SCER and media that is specifically targeted at empowering the role of women in the electoral process and to raise awareness of their rights as voters and candidates, matched with similar programmes to ensure male voters are made aware of the rights of women voters;
iv. A targeted drive to increase and equalise the number of women registered as voters;
v. The appointment of more women as members of election commissions at all levels and the provision of more effective and inclusive training of female polling staff, combined with guidelines to ensure improved conditions for female polling stations as well as a genuine inclusion and empowerment of the SCER Women’s Unit in order to address gender issues strategically and effectively.

The SCER should amend its guidelines on campaigning to remove the requirement that it approves campaign materials.

The Yemen authorities should:
i. undertake constructive measures to expand the diversity of the media sector, particularly regarding the licensing of private electronic media. The concentration of media ownership is a limitation to the diversity of view points;
ii. promote the autonomy of the media taking effective measures to prevent intimidations or attacks against journalists.

All State media should make strenuous efforts to show impartiality during an election campaign. The State broadcaster should also be under special obligations to ensure
more equitable coverage of all contenders in its news reports. There should be a clearer distinction of what is to be considered the activity of officials by virtue of their
position and what is election campaigning. No privileged treatment should be given to State authorities by the media during election campaigns.

Opportunities should be provided for media to produce political information programmes during election periods that allow interactive debate between and questioning of candidates etc

The Elections Law should be reviewed through a consultative process to identify and address outstanding problematic issues including:
i. To remove the right of a voter to be registered to vote in the location of their place of work.
ii. To ensure only valid votes are used as the basis for determining the proportion of votes won by all candidates.

Domestic observer groups should offer better training to their observers. Genuine attempts should be made by civil society organisations involved in domestic election observation to strengthen public confidence in the impartiality and objectivity of their findings.

The following steps should be taken to improve voting procedures on election day:
i. Polling staff should enforce rules to protect the secrecy of the vote;
ii. Clear guidelines should be produced on the manner by which illiterate or disabled voters can receive appropriate assistance;
iii. Election officials and Yemeni authorities must take steps to prevent intimidatory activities against voters, and campaigning activities near to polling centres;
iv. All polling centres and, wherever possible, all polling stations should be accessible to the disabled.

Consideration could be given to reviewing the electoral system with a view to the possible introduction of a new majority requirement for future presidential elections, and a mixed-member system for future National Assembly elections.

A permanent independent election tribunal, separate from the ECZ, should be established to resolve election disputes.

The introduction of legal provisions to limit campaign spending and regulate political party financing would remove the uneven playing field for parties and candidates and encourage greater accountability. The introduction of the public funding of political parties is also a possibility

The list of electoral malpractices and their penalties outlined in the Electoral Act and the Code of Conduct should be revised in order to ensure that sanctions are proportional to the alleged offences. The requirement of intent to influence a voter should be removed from the offence of bribery because the reality of bribery is more important than the intent behind it.

The ECZ should make provisions for special needs registration and voting to ensure that the homebound, the hospitalized and others are able to participate in the electoral process. In addition, consideration should be given to out-of-country and absentee voting to ensure maximum enfranchisement of eligible voters.

Provisions should be introduced into the legal framework to ensure a higher representation of women in decision-making processes.

The ECZ should adopt a clear set of internal procedures to ensure its full transparency to stakeholders. In particular, the ECZ should publish immediately its decisions, minutes and internal procedures, and create an archive of this material which is open to public inspection. It should hold regular, open meetings for all stakeholders, provide details of all formal complaints received and publish all final election results in a comprehensive and timely manner.