For more than a decade, NDI has conducted programs in Yemen aimed at providing members of parliament with core legislative skills, improving the representative nature of Yemen's political parties, increasing women's political participation, strengthening the capacity of civil society organizations and strengthening local councils. The Institute's current programs are geared towards strengthening the institution of Parliament with a focus on building the capacity of parliamentary committees to exercise their oversight authority by drafting, analyzing and effectively amending legislation and actively engaging civil society to support legislative goals. The Institute is working to build relationships between civil society and local governments by developing their ability to implement participatory budgeting and encouraging mutual engagement to prioritize community needs. NDI further supports civil society directly by strengthening their institutional processes and their ability to develop and implement advocacy and public awareness initiatives.
In an op-ed in the Globe and Mail, NDI regional director for the Middle East and North Africa Les Campbell discussed the need for continuing political reform started almost 20 years ago, with an emphasis on genuine power sharing, economic development, decentralization and rooting out corruption.
Political Context
Since its unification in 1990, Yemen has at times been at the forefront of Arab efforts to launch meaningful democratic reform and build a more representative and inclusive political system. Yemen is the first state on the Arabian Peninsula to enfranchise women and boasts a multi-party electoral system. Its political leaders, through actions and rhetoric, have created an expectation among the Yemeni people that they should have a say in how the country is governed. Despite these accomplishments and a stated commitment to modernization and reform, events in recent years — including intermittent violent conflicts — have indicated continuing challenges to Yemen's democratic aspirations.
While the pace of political development in Yemen has been uneven, the 2006 presidential and local elections marked an important step forward, with the country's first truly competitive presidential race. The main opposition grouping, the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), fielded a credible candidate for president and organized effectively for his election campaign against the incumbent and eventual winner, President Ali Abdullah Saleh of the ruling General People's Congress (GPC). Over 20,000 party and independent candidates vied for approximately 7,200 seats at the district and governorate levels. The GPC won 85 percent of governorate level seats and 76 percent of district level seats. Islah, the largest opposition party, won 7 percent on the governorate councils and 12 percent of district level seats.
While the presidential elections indicated a potential opening in Yemeni politics, the local elections represented a setback for women in Yemen, especially in gaining support from political party leadership. Despite increased activism by women in the parties and extensive campaign training by a number of civil society organizations, including NDI, the nomination and election of women decreased; at the local council level, 122 women were nominated as candidates, out of nearly 19,000 total nominees. Only 28 women won seats.
In early 2009, after months of political deadlock over disagreements regarding the nature of the voter registration lists, the voter domiciles, the composition of the Supreme Commission for Elections and Referenda (SCER), and the election law, the ruling GPC and the opposition JMP agreed to make space for electoral reform and consider constitutional amendments related to the structure of the government and the electoral system. As part of this agreement, the Yemeni parliament voted on Feb. 26 to extend the term of the parliament beyond its current mandate, paving the way for a two-year delay in the national election originally scheduled for April 27, 2009. In addition to the resolution of technical issues noted above, the parties are expected to discuss the adoption of a parliamentary, rather than a presidential, system and a proportional representation system to replace the current plurality majority system.
NDI Programming
Political Party Development
Young activists discuss democratic principles.Yemeni political parties are still learning to develop comprehensive platforms and improve constituent relations. Since the 2003 parliamentary elections, NDI has worked with political party leaders to strengthen their ability to communicate effectively and engage in open, constructive and inclusive debate. NDI continues to provide support and training to political parties to improve internal structures and strengthen coordination between the parties' central offices and branches. Building on the lessons learned from the 2006 presidential and local elections, NDI initiated a series of strategic and policy planning consultations with the central and branch leadership of the ruling and opposition parties to aid them in developing cohesive, policy-based platforms that are directly responsive to constituent concerns. NDI held multi-party sessions for women party members and youth activists to help marginalized groups within the GPC and JMP engage across party lines, in an effort to further strengthen the parties' abilities to develop policies reflecting the needs of various voter groups ahead of the anticipated 2009 parliamentary elections.
Through its work with political and civic actors in Yemen, NDI seeks to support the agreed upon inclusive dialogue process for political and electoral reform. NDI encourages the GPC and JMP to implement the February Agreement as a parallel initiative to wider dialogue efforts on issues such as decentralization, southern civil unrest and the war in Sa'ada. The agreement includes pledges to discuss reforms to the political and electoral systems. NDI is working with the ruling and opposition parties to establish priority issues for developing and implementing a reform package; build consensus on the framework for a revised political system and electoral process; and help identify and resolve key areas of disagreement between and within the parties. Steps to bundle wider concerns have hindered dialogue efforts by both sides and caused concern that political and electoral reform may be delayed indefinitely.
