The unification of the two former Yemeni states to form the Republic of Yemen in 1990 has brought about a period of unprecedented political freedom and diversity. The transformation was induced from above by two regimes that had shown only limited interest in democracy in the past. Within a few months of unity more than forty political parties had appeared.

 

Parties and Political Organisations Law No. 66 of 1991 was drafted and approved simply by the two former ruling parties, the General People's Congress (GPC) and the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP). The law was formulated to regulate and organise the formation of parties in Yemen. The degree of political freedom that developed in Yemen far exceeded the original intentions however. The GPC and the YSP intended to operate a controlled democracy. Because of the great differences between them, they were unable to agree on government action. Therefore, the restraints imposed by the law were often not applied. Thus, both the GPC and the YSP tried to use the emergent parties as puppets and direct them against each other. Eventually, only twenty-one political parties contested the first parliamentary elections in 1993 and only eight parties actually won seats. It was only after the 1994 civil war that the law regulating parties was put into effect, after the YSP was stripped of its power. It then became possible to enforce the law. Consequently, the number of licensed political parties decreased to fifteen and among these only four parties won seats in the 1997 elections.

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