Yemeni presidential election, 1999

Yemeni presidential election, 1999
Yemen
23 September 1999
Turnout 66%
 
Nominee Ali Abdullah Saleh Najeeb Qahtan Al-Sha'abi
Party GPC Independent
Percentage 96.3% 3.7%
President before election

Ali Abdullah Saleh
GPC

 Elected President

Ali Abdullah Saleh
GPC

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Direct Presidential elections were held in Yemen for the first time on 23 September 1999.[1] Candidates had to be approved by at least 10% of MPs; however, in practice this meant that only two parties, the ruling General People's Congress and the Yemeni Congregation for Reform had enough seats to nominate their candidates. In the end, the Yemeni Congregation for Reform backed the GPC's candidate, incumbent President Ali Abdullah Saleh rather than running a candidate of their own.

The only candidates that received approval from Parliament were Saleh, who won with 96.3% of the vote, and Najeeb Qahtan Al-Sha'abi, a member of Saleh's own party. Parliament failed to approve the main opposition candidate, Ali Saleh Obad of the Yemeni Socialist Party, and his party boycotted the election. Official turnout was 66% of 5.6 million registered voters, a figure contested by the opposition.[2]

Nominations

Nominations for presidential candidates closed on 13 July 1999. In total, 31 candidates put their names forward, though three of them were disqualified immediately for failing to meet the legal requirements. The full list is as follows: [3]

  1. Ali Abdullah Saleh (General People's Congress, Islah, National Opposition Council)
  2. Ali Salih 'Ubad Muqbil (parties of the Supreme Co-ordination Council for the Opposition)
  3. Abd al-Quwi Ahmad Hamoud Shuwi'a (People's Democratic Party)
  4. Al-Habbani Muhammad abd al-Malik Nu'man al-'Abassi (Yemeni Popular Unity Party)
  5. Ali bin Ali Sabihi
  6. Muhammad Muhammad Hizam al-Yamani
  7. Amin Ahmad Thabit
  8. Abd al-Wahhab Muhammad Hassan al-Karidi
  9. Abdullah Salih Salih al-Bakhiti
  10. Muhammad Ahmad Sa'ad al-Dhufari
  11. Faisal Ali Ahmad Ghaaithan al-Tawil
  12. Salih Hassan Abdullah al-'Azani
  13. Abd al-Malik Yahya Ahmad Hanash
  14. Ahmad Ali Hussein Yahya al-'Amri
  15. Muhammad A'id Qa'id al-'Uthmali
  16. Ali Salih al-Houri
  17. Muhammad Ali Muhsin al-Sirri
  18. Salih Ahmad bin Ahmad Jubah
  19. Muhammad Hussein al-Jamuzi
  20. Ali Abdullah Salih Muhsin Suroub
  21. Abd al-Wahhab Qanaf Sha'if
  22. Mustafa Youssef Khalil
  23. Iskandar Ali al-Nathari
  24. Mustafa Ali Naji 'Aiyash
  25. Ahmad Muslih al-Barti
  26. Ma'adh Abdullah al-Shahani
  27. Ahmad Abduh al-Ramim
  28. Najeeb Qahtan Al-Sha'abi - (MP for the General People's Congress, running as an Independent)

The following were disqualified (reason):

  1. Amin Ahmad bin Ahmad Thabit (candidates must not be married to a foreigner and he had a Russian wife)
  2. Abdullah Salih Salih Muhsin Surub (minimum age is 40, he was 38)
  3. A candidate with a name too similar to President Saleh

The parliamentary vetting committee eliminated another four candidates, putting 24 of the 31 nominations to a parliamentary vote, in which a candidate required 31 votes to be able to run in the election. Another candidate, Khalid al-Zarraka, did not appear on the publicised list of nominations, but was included in the parliamentary vote. In the vote itself, 21 of the 25 (including al-Zarraka) did not receive any support. [3]

Candidate Votes
Ali Abdullah Saleh 182
Najeeb Qahtan Al-Sha'abi 39
Khalid al-Zarraka 25
Ali Salih 'Ubad Muqbil 7

Thus only two candidates managed to obtain approval from MPs; President Saleh and Najeeb Qahtan Al-Sha'abi, a member of Saleh's party running as an independent.[2]

Results

 Summary of the 23 September 1999 Yemen presidential election results
Candidates – Nominating parties Votes %
Ali Abdullah Saleh – General People's Congress 96.3
Najeeb Qahtan Al-Sha'abi – Independent 3.7
Total (turnout 66%) 100.0
Source: Nohlen, Grotz & Hartmann 2001, p. 310; "Election Watch"

References

Nohlen, Dieter; Grotz, Florian; Hartmann, Christof, eds. (2001). Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 301–310. ISBN 978-0-19-924958-9. Retrieved 7 April 2011. 

  1. ↑ Nohlen, Grotz & Hartmann 2001, p. 301
  2. 1 2 "Election Watch". Journal of Democracy (The Johns Hopkins University Press) 11 (1): 206–211. January 2000. doi:10.1353/jod.2000.0001. ISSN 1086-3214. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  3. 1 2 "Nominations for the presidency". al-bab.com. 20 July 1999. Retrieved 7 April 2011.
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