Yemen's parliamentary election, 1997

Parties contesting the 1997 election

Party Symbol Candidates Women
1. General People's Congress Horse 257 2
2. Islah Sun 241 0
3. Nasserite Unionist Party Star & Crescent 88 0
4. Arab Baath Socialist Party Palm Tree 34 2
5. Nasserite Democratic Party Scales 33 0
6. Nasserite Reformist Party Camel 16 1
7. Yemeni League Party Jambia 16 0
8. National Democratic Front Pigeon 57 0
9. Al-Haqq Party Book 26 1
10. Arab Baath Socialist Party Eagle 57 1
11. Liberation Front Party Hands Shaking 11 0
12. Social National Party Hoepoe 14 1
TOTAL (party candidates) 850 8
PLUS: Independent candidates 3,001 15
GRAND TOTAL NOMINATED 3,851 23

Parties boycotting the 1997 election:

1. Yemen Socialist Party
2. Yemeni Unionist Congregation Party
3. Federation of Popular Forces
4. League of the Sons of Yemen


Share of the total vote, 1997

Party Votes % share
GPC 1,172,504 43%
Islah 639,734 23%
Independent 332,616 12%
Ind (GPC) 304,595 11%
Ind (Islah) 151,946 6%
Nasserist 55,371 2%
Ind (YSP) 29,235 1%


How well did they win?

Seats won with more than 50% of the vote:
GPC: 145 out of 187
Islah: 24 out of 53
Independents: 23 out of 54

Highest winning vote: 97.87%

Lowest winning vote: 22.55%

Uncontested seats, 1997 election

  • 63 seats not contested by GPC: Islah won 24 of them

  • 120 seats not contested by Islah: GPC won 98 of them

  • 7 seats not contested by GPC or Islah: Independents won 5, Nasserists 1, Ba'athists 1.

  • Independents won 4 seats, Nasserists 1, Ba'athists 1 in face of competition from both GPC and Islah


State of the parties, 1997

Party 1993 1997 Change
General People's Congress 123 187 +64
Yemeni Alliance for Reform (al-Islah) 62 53 -9
Yemeni Socialist Party 56 0 -56
Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party 7 2 -5
Nasserist parties 3 3 0
Truth Party (al-Haqq) 2 0 -2
Independents 47 54 +7
(Election postponed) 1 2
TOTAL 301 301

Source: EMC

Adjusted state of the parties

Party Official Plus Total
General People's Congress 187 39 226
Yemeni Alliance for Reform (al-Islah) 53 10 63
Yemeni Socialist Party 0 2 2
Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party 2 0 2
Nasserist parties 3 0 3
Independents 54 -51 3

(After re-distribution of "independent" MPs with party allegiances)


The geographical divide, 1997

Northern provinces GPC YSP Islah Other Indep. TOTAL
Sana'a (city) 15 0 1 0 2 18
Ta'izz 19 0 16 3 5 43
Ibb 28 0 2 0 8 38
al-Bayda 4 0 3 0 3 10
Hudaydah 25 0 2 0 7 32
Dhamar 14 0 1 0 5 21
Sana'a (province) 23 0 5 1 7 36
al-Mahweet 8 0 0 0 0 8
Hajjah 17 0 5 2 0 23
Sa'adah 6 0 0 2 3 9
al-Jawf 0 0 2 0 0 2
Ma'rib 1 0 2 0 0 3
Sub-total 160 0 39 4 40 243
Southern provinces GPC YSP Islah Other Indep. TOTAL
Aden 6 0 2 0 3 11
Lahj 6 0 2 0 4 12
Abyan 6 0 1 1 0 8
Shabwah 2 0 1 0 3 6
Hadramawt 6 0 8 0 3 17
al-Maharah 1 0 0 0 1 2
Sub-total 27 0 14 1 14 56
All provinces GPC YSP Islah Other Indep. TOTAL
TOTAL (north and south) 187 0 53 5 54 299

Share of seats – north and south

Party North % South %
GPC 66 48
Islah 16 25
Other parties 2 2
Independent 16 25

Share of the votes – Hadramawt

Party Seats Votes Votes %
GPC 6 28,243 29
Islah 8 27,983 29
Other parties 0 929 1
Independent 3 40,228 41
TOTAL 17 97,383 100

Note: This illustrates the weakness of the GPC's position and the strength of Islah in Hadramaut.


Independent Yemeni observers, 1997

(Elections Monitoring Committee)

Province Constits Total Male Female
Sana'a City 18 750 470 280
Taiz 42 1,447 1,192 285
Sana'a Prov 12 395 354 41
Mahweet 5 142 134 8
Baidha 6 299 254 45
Hadhramaut 13 270 196 74
Hodeida 18 523 403 120
Marib 3 191 185 6
Sa'ada 4 160 160 -
Aden 11 235 164 71
Abyan 8 209 182 27
Lahaj 9 197 150 47
Ibb 16 820 609 11
Dhamar 8 375 318 57
TOTAL 173 6,043 4,771 1,272