Democracy & Political Pluralism [Archives:2000/21/Law & Diplomacy]
Democracy as an approach to the ruling system and a framework within which civil institutions guarantee the right to peaceful transfer of power by direct elections is something new in Yemen. Political thinkers believe that survival and stability of the unified state would be realized through development of political action on sound bases respectful of general freedoms and human rights based on principle of a democratic regime.
A decade after the unity, political analysts are raising questions about the Yemeni democratic experiment and scope of its ability to allow transfer of power peacefully by free elections. They also wonder why rounds of political violence have continued and later led to a civil war just a few months after the parliamentary elections of 1993.
After 1990 Yemen found itself forced to get out of contradictions and discordance of interests between the two pillars of the newly- born state, especially after it had failed to integrate the two parties of the former two parts into one political entity.
Although legislations of the unified state have secured the people’s right to choose their representatives in the parliament, the politicians have waged political wars for effecting constitutional amendments and those differences could not be decided through democratic dialogue.
Outwardly, the two parties; PGC and YSP leaders were convinced of the necessity of holding the first parliamentary elections to test the political situation in the country. Developments on the ground confirmed a political desire among Yemeni social forces inclined to follow a democratic policy and change persons in both legislative and executive organs through elections. The number of political parties have risen from 3 to more than 15 during three years time after the unity. The number of eligible voters registered for the parliamentary elections of 1993 from both sexes numbered 2,697,734 to select 301 members. Twenty-two political parties and organizations took part in that exercise, nine of them winning seats in the parliament
The three major parties were; PGC 122 seats, Islah 63 seats and YSP 56 seats.
A coalition government was formed of these parties but that government could not last long due to differences in perception about building the modern state of Yemen.
The YSP and the PGC parties had been engaged in a long debate on how to build the institutional base and curb corruption and share roles. That led to intervention of other political and social forces, after which a national committee was set up to settle the differences, but that did not manage to contain the differences inside the coalition.
In May, 1994 the democratic dialogue collapsed and a civil war broke out. That war resulted in driving the YSP out of power. The PGC and the Islah continued ruling the country till the 1997 parliamentary elections. YSP opposition party leadership along with three leftist parties announced their boycott of the elections. The PGC, the Islah and 12 other parties and organizations had contested the elections where only five of their candidates won seats in the parliament. The PGC got 200 seats, the Islah 53. Thus, the PGC formed the government and the Islah shifted to the opposition.
In the second elections the number of voters went up to 2,726,96. This ushered in an increase in popular participation and many countries, especially the U.S. and the European Union have expressed happiness of Yemen following the democratic course.
The Yemeni leadership then decided it was time to run presidential elections in confirmation of the principles of democratic system. President Ali Abdullah Saleh from the PGC and the independent Najeeb Kahtan Al-Shabi contested in the elections in which president Saleh won. Despite some of the undesirable aspects of the presidency elections, the experiment received welcome from international institutes, USA and European countries.
An international conference for Emerging Democracies was held in Sana’a, 28-30 June 1999 to support the political and economic reforms carried out by Yemen and similar countries.
Stemming from the international Forum on Emerging Democracies, Sana’a declaration had prepared the mechanisms for enhancing confidence in elections and development of participation in political decision-making and peaceful transfer of power.
Yemen’s democratic experiment is still at its beginning and has many questions to settle. Such questions are the differences with opposition parties, respect for general and individual freedoms, guarantee of human rights and spread of stability among the Yemeni society.
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