Yemeni parliamentary election, 2003

Yemeni parliamentary election, 2003

27 April 2003

All 301 seats to the House of Representatives 151 seats needed for a majority Turnout 76%   First party Second party   Leader Ali Abdullah Saleh Sadiq al-Ahmar Party GPC Al-Islah Last election 187 53 Seats before 187 53 Seats won 238 46 Seat change 51 7 Popular vote 3,429,888 1,333,394 Percentage 58% 22.6% Swing 14.9% 0.8%

Yemen
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Yemen
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Parliamentary elections were held in Yemen on 27 April, 2003. Originally scheduled for 2001, they were won by President Ali Abdullah Saleh's General People's Congress, who took 58% of the vote. As a result, the party dominated the parliament, holding 238 of the 301 seats.

The election

Nineteen parties fielded a total of 991 candidates for the 301 parliamentary seats, in addition to 405 Independent candidates. Over eight million Yemeni citizens were registered to vote, with the number of registered women voters almost doubling since 1997 (3.4 million compared to 1.8 million).

Although the election was deemed to be more free and fair than in previous years, there were still concerns about the conduct of the vote. The National Democratic Institute noted that:

The atmosphere of anxiety in the run-up to the elections caused by fears of violence, as well as heavy-handed and coercive measures on and after election day by elements of the ruling GPC in many polling stations across the country are troubling. There were credible reports of election law violations including political intimidation, underage voting, improper behavior by security forces, vote buying and obstruction by ruling party counting commissioners. ^[1]

Results

The General People's Congress initially won 230 seats, and were immediately joined by several independents. Despite the increase in the number of women voters, only one woman was elected, down from two in the 1997 elections.

References

Elections and referendums in Yemen Presidential elections 1999 2006 2012 next Parliamentary elections 1993 1997 2003 next Pre-unification elections Colony of Aden: 1955 1959 1964 North Yemen: 1971 1988 South Yemen: 1978 1986 Referendums 1991 2001