Alliance agreement between the General People's Congress and the Yemen Socialist Party, May 1993
Part 1
The task of re-unification of Yemen was achieved by the GPC and YSP in a peaceful and democratic way. This achievement has created a responsibility on those two parties, the other parties, as well as the newly-elected parliament to safeguard the unity and to pursue Yemen’s grand civilisational vision. Such a vision must be couched on social and economic progress and a state based on institutions through the consolidation of the democratisation process, and by ensuring the full and effective public participation in free and honest parliamentary and local/municipal elections in all governorates. The re-unification process was a popular demand and goal. The GPC and YSP rose up to the occasion and mastered the necessary will needed for the realisation of the goal on May 22, 1990. As a corollary, the democratisation Process was initiated, and the climax was on April 27, 1993, when free and direct parliamentary elections were held.
The two parties (GPC and YSP) hereby agree to initiate deep and extensive co-ordinations leading to a unified political organ based on the following principles:
a) The ideals and principles of the Republic of Yemen, notably constitutional legitimacy, democracy, pluralism, and the right of every citizen to choose his/her representative to parliament and to hold rulers accountable.
b) The peaceful transfer of power and the right of all parties to seek to attain power through legal and constitutional means.
The first step in this merger effort is to create a unified parliamentary bloc. In their endeavours, the two parties have expressed commitment to the following principles.
1. Allegiance to God (Allah), the nation, the Revolution, and adherence to Islamic faith and Sharia.
2. To observe constitutional legitimacy and the right of every citizen to freedom, equality, justice, and to abstain from any exploitation and oppression, irrespective of their origins or reasons.
3. To consolidate national unity and to generalise the benefits of development to all parts of the country justly in fulfilment of the goals of the September/October Revolution and the sovereignty of the homeland and its unity.
4. To construct a modern state with all its political, economic, cultural and social institutions, and the enforcement of law and order in all walks of life.
5. To adhere to democracy based on pluralism, the peaceful transfer of power, the right of citizens to freely elect their representatives in parliament, and the right to affiliation to any party or union. At the same time to safeguard the general freedoms, the independence of labour unions and syndicates, the observation of human rights, and the sovereignty of the law.
6. To build Yemeni human power spiritually, morally and physically, and to fight any secessionist, sectarian, tribal and any other form of discrimination, and to ensure equal opportunity for all citizens.
7. To pursue local administration and to promote democracy in the affairs of the state by implementing local elections and granting locally elected officials full and wide ranging authorities in carrying out their tasks.
8. To develop and modernise the economy through just competition among the public, private and co-operative sectors, and to remove any restrictions on economic activities by more liberalisation as organised by the law.
Launching their efforts on the general principles and goals stipulated above, and on their joint responsibilities, the two parties (GPC and YSP) confirm their drive for co-operation with all other political parties and organisations towards the consolidation of democracy. According to the promises made in their elections campaigns, the two parties will jointly strive towards their realisation through (a) the formation of a unified parliamentary bloc immediately, while leaving the door open for any others to join this bloc; and (b) the continuation of efforts in constructing a modern Yemeni state with all the institutions of a democratic and civilian government, by introducing reforms aimed at:
1. Continuing to refine and evolve the political system under the general concepts of pluralism based on the parliamentary/presidency system and Yemeni circumstances.
2. Commitment to the democratic course of political evolution based on political pluralism.
3. Clear definition of the political, economic and social rights and general freedoms.
4. Specification of the shape of the system within the principle of separation of judicial, executive and legislative authorities, and to affirm the neutrality of the military security apparatus in all political activities.
In light of the above, constitutional reforms will be required in the following:
1. political foundations,
2. economic foundations,
3. social/cultural foundations,
4. rights/duties of citizens.
Hence, such a task requires an accurate and detailed review and redrafting of chapters one, two, three of the constitution, which should be, carried out with the following in mind:
a) Identifying the political, economic and social shape of the state leadership,
b) Specifying the national basis for the system,
c) Correcting any ambiguity and overlap/contradictions in the contents of the articles of the constitution.
In addition, the reforms aim at introducing fundamental amendments to the third chapter of the constitution with respect to organising the state’s authorities: – the legislative authority, – the executive authority, – the judicial authority. The GPC and YSP will work together towards amending the state authorities with the following objectives and goals in mind:
a) Expansion of public participation in the strategic political decisions through involvement of the parliament and senate (Al-Shura) houses.
b) Consolidation of the posts of president and vice-president which shall be filled through direct elections by the people. Specific guidelines will delineate the relations between those two posts, the executive authority, and the other forms of authority. Other guidelines will also delineate relations between the local and central authorities.
c) Strengthening of the judicial authority by terminating the dual relations with the executive authority and working to guarantee the independence of judges in their work.
Part II
Legislative authority
The legislative authority shall have three bodies as follows:
The House of Representatives,
The Shura Council,
The General Assembly.
1. The House of Representatives: The House of Representatives is made up of 301 persons elected according the Laws organising parliamentary elections. The Presidium of the House shall be made up of three persons elected by the members – a chairman and two deputies. The House shall also have a secretary-general who heads the administrative/technical apparatus and who shall be elected/nominated from among the members of the presidium.
2. The Shura Council: The creation of the Shura Council aims to broaden the public participation in making strategic and high-level decisions. The members of the Shura Council will be made up as follows:
a) Elected persons, representing the governorates in equal number. Each governorate shall be deemed one constituency, and a law regulating the elections process shall be enacted.
b) An additional number, a third of the total, is to be named by the presidency.
The Council will elect its chairman and two deputy chairmen, in addition to a secretary-general to head the technical/administrative apparatus. The presidency shall specify the various tasks and authorities of the Shura Council, which shall all be incorporated in the law.
3. The National Assembly: The House of Representatives and the Shura Council together shall be the National Assembly, which shall be headed by the vice-president of the country. The National Assembly shall address the following matters:
a) Border treaties, peace agreement and alliances of Yemen with other nations.
b) Amendments to the Constitution.
c) Approval of candidates for presidency, before these are presented to the people.
d) Any differences between Parliament and the government.
e) Any other issues agreed upon for referral to it and as stated in the constitution.
The executive authority
1. The Presidency of the State:
a) The presidency is made up of the president and the vice-president to be directly elected by the people.
b) The candidates for presidency are introduced in one unified ticket to the Chairman of the House of Parliament.
c) A committee from the two houses of Parliament/Al-Shura is to be formed for checking the presidential candidates to ensure the required conditions are met.
d) The committee announces the list of candidates to Parliament and the candidature is conditional on securing the approval of at least 25% of the parliamentary votes.
e) Then the list of candidates is passed on to the National Assembly and after gaining an absolute majority of the members’ votes, it is declared to the public via referendum.
f) The presidential and vice presidential candidates are said to have won in the referendum if their ticket has gained more than 50% of the votes. If it does not gain this majority, another list of nominees is introduced through the same previous procedures.
g) The maximum period of the presidency is two terms only, each five years.
2. The Cabinet:
The president of the state, in co-ordination with the majority party or the coalition of majority parties, charges a person to form the cabinet. Then a republican decree is issued regarding the formation of the new government.
3. The Local Authority Apparatus:
The local election shall proceed according to a law which will regulate the process of candidacy and elections together with the election of the governor and municipal officials.
The judicial authority
The Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority in the Republic.
Based on the programmes of the two parties, steps will be taken for the further implementation of the urgent tasks. The starting point is the improvement of the citizens’ standard of living, ensuring, security and stability, combating corruption and exploitation, improvement of water and sewage services, development of better educational programs, pursuing investment in the field of natural resource management and development in all regions of the country, bringing an end to partitioning of administrative posts and preparations for the local elections.
The two parties agree on the formation of the following committees to put these goals and principles into effect:
a) A committee for developing and stabilising the constitutional and democratic foundations to form the basis of a modern Yemeni state.
b) A committee for laying, down the government’s program of action.
c) A committee for laying down the regulations which govern the formation of the parliamentary bloc and specifying its tasks, and the mechanism of co-ordination between them and the executive authority.
d) A committee for laying down the foundation of the documents of unification between the GPC and the YSP into one political organisation.
The General Committee and the Political Bureau will authorise, in a joint meeting, the two general secretaries of the two parties to carry out he formation of the previously [mentioned organisation?].
