The General Elections Law Number 27 for the year 1996
Yemeni elections are administered, controlled and supervised by an independent committee. The Supreme Elections Committee, as stipulated by the new elections law, is composed of seven members chosen by the president of the Republic from a list of 15 candidates nominated by parliament. Members of this committee, in order to be independent, must "suspend their political and/or party affiliation(s) during their tenure in office as members of the SEC." They must also refrain from nominating themselves for any general elections. Women are given their full rights on par with men by this law. They are allowed full and fair opportunities to vote, and to nominate themselves as candidates for parliament. Article 5 states that :" the supreme committee will take all appropriate measures to encourage women to exercise their voting rights and will set up women’s committees which will be entrusted with registering the names of female voters in the voting registers and verifying their identity during the balloting process." Yemen’s parliament is composed of 301 members coming from as many constituencies. The electoral constituencies or districts are demographically equal in view of the General Central Census. In this regard, an error of estimate of 0.5% will be tolerated. Every Yemeni citizen above the age of 18 is allowed to vote. Every eligible voter aged 25 or above has the right to apply for candidacy to parliament within the constituency of his/her electoral domicile. Those who run for parliament and hold a public office or official position must resign from the public services. They are to be reinstated to their former positions upon failing to get elected. Each constituency has a permanent voters’ register prepared by the main elections’ committee and subcommittees who are responsible for administering the elections. The registers must include detailed lists of all citizens within each constituency. Each voter can register in one constituency only. Strict identity verification procedures are applied during the registration period. Raising public awareness of the importance of the election process and of the necessity for people to cast their votes, is the responsibility of the Supreme Elections Committee. The state-run media will be banned from running or publishing any news bulletins about the elections without the SEC’s approval and supervision. All candidates will be allowed the use of the state-run media(radio, T.V, and the press) on equal and fair basis. Using public funds for conducting election campaigns is strictly prohibited. All candidates are prohibited from employing slanderous language or any threats and accusations during their election campaigns. Falsification or Omission of voter names, voting on behalf of another person, disclosing the votes of others, voting more than once, taking part in a demonstration on elections day or tampering with election documents are punishable by 6 months imprisonment. One to two years imprisonment is meted out to those who use force or threats to prevent voters from voting. Any person with a legitimate interest has the right to file a petition against practices attributed to the SEC in violation of the constitution and applicable laws. ` Political Parties in both former states had been governed by a one-party system. In the South, the Socialist Party held the monopoly, while in the North, the "People’s General Congress", consisting of representatives from all segments of society, was founded in 1982 to draw up the so called "National Charter". After unification, political parties were allowed to establish themselves officially for the first time in Yemen’s history . The "winds of democracy" have encouraged people to voice their opinions freely and have led to the formation of over 40 political parties.

The Political Parties and Organizations Law No.66 for 1991
This law organizes and regulates the formation of political parties and organizations in Yemen. It is derived from the constitution of the Republic of Yemen which freely allows plurality in the political life of the nation. Article five of this law states that "Yemenis have the right to form, and voluntarily join, any political party or organization in accordance with the constitution and the rules of this law." This law stipulates a specific set of conditions and guidelines that must be adhered to by all such parties. All parties must have publicly declared ideologies and programs. They must renounce violence, and adhere to the constitution of the land and the values and principles of the nation. No military or militia groups are allowed to be formed by any political party or organization. All parties must possess clearly defined regulations and internal charters to specify their goals, programme and conditions for membership. Also, political parties must be national , i.e. having members from most of the country’s regions. Another important conditions is that all parties must clearly declare their sources of funding. Party members must be over 18 years of age, and its founders above 25. All party activists must be Yemeni, either by birth or by naturalization according to the relevant laws. Article 13 of this law specifies the formation of the "Committee for Political Parties and Organizations Affairs." This committee is headed by the state’s Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, and it includes the Ministers for Justice and the Interior and four other independent members chosen from the Supreme Court’s judges or lawyers. The tasks of examining applications for forming political parties, and insuring the adherence to all necessary conditions, are entrusted to the above mentioned committee. A party is considered to be in legal existence 45 days after submitting its application if the committee has no objection whatsoever to its formation. The law stipulates that the committee should announce for one week , through the public press, the party’s application, and clearly indicate its name and the names of its founding members. Any new party must have at least 2500 founding members. In the event of any dispute, the law guarantees the right to resort to the judicial system for both the founders of the party and the committee. All Yemeni parties must never be branches for external non-Yemeni parties. They must also not receive or accept any funds or privileges from foreign sources. In view of the above, the law has obliged the government to allocate annual funds or subsidies for all lawful Yemeni parties that are represented in parliament. Each party represented in parliament receives an equal share of 25% of the annual funds. The remaining 75% is distributed to the parties represented in parliament according to the numbers of votes each party received during the last elections. Yemeni law guarantees the protection of party documents, correspondences and communications from any surveillance, inspection, or confiscation without a proper court order and the presence of representatives from the general prosecutor’s office and the party concerned. The law has also clearly specified the rules and conditions for revoking a party’s license to carry out its activities. If a particular party or organization violates the rules of the law or when a definite court order is issued, then and only then, a party’s license can be revoked.