Yemeni parliamentary election, 1997

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The 1997 Yemeni parliamentary elections took place on 27 April 1997 for the Assembly of Representatives of Yemen. The governing General People's Congress of President Ali Abdullah Saleh won a landslide victory in the elections.

1 Voters and candidates
2 Campaign
3 Elections results
4 Post-election
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Voters and candidates

Of the 16 million people in Yemen about 4.6 million were registered to vote with about a quarter of them being women. However only about 2.6 million people received their voting cards.^[1]

Over 2,300 candidates, from 12 parties, competed for the 301 seats in the Parliament of Yemen. Most candidates were independents, however many of these were backed by either the General People's Congress or Islah parties. There were 19 female candidates.^[2] Each party or independent candidate had their own logo such as an owl or horse for the ballot paper to help illiterate voters.^[3]

[edit] Campaign

Several opposition parties including the Yemeni Socialist Party boycotted the election alleging that the government had harassed and arrested their party workers.^[1] The main opposition party, Islah, attacked the government for not carrying out economic reforms and for corruption.^[2] There were few disagreements over policy between the parties.^[3]

[edit] Elections results

The election was held under the first past the post electoral system.

e•d Summary of the 27 April 1997 Yemen Assembly of Representatives election results
Parties	Votes	%	Seats	Change
General People's Congress (al-Mu'tammar al-Sha'bi al-'Am)	1,172,504	43	187	+64
Yemeni Congregation for Reform (al-Tajmu al-Yamani li al-Islah)	639,734	23	53	-9
Arab Socialist Rebirth Party (Hizb al Baath al'Arabi al Ishtiraki)			2	-5
Nasserite Unionist People's Organisation (al-Tantheem al-Wahdawi al-Sha'bi al-Nasseri)	55,371	2	3	0
Independents	818,392	30	54	+7
Total	2,686,001	100.0	301	0
Source: www.al-bab.com Most of the candidates elected as independents would join other parties.

[edit] Post-election

In two districts, Hajjah and Dhamar the results were cancelled due to irregularities.^[4] International monitors described the elections as being 'reasonably free and fair' and 'a positive step in the democratic development of Yemen'.^[5]

After the election 39 MPs elected as Independents joined the General People's Congress, 10 joined the Islah party and 2 joined the Yemeni Socialist Party.^[6]