[08 January 2004] The first presidential elections took place in Yemen on September 23 1999. Around 24 persons had applied for the candidacy some of them were partisans and others were non-partisan.

Yemeni constitutions stipulates that every candidate runs for the presidency he ought to gain the recommendation of at least 5 % of the parliament members.

Thereupon , two candidates only who gained the recommendation. Ali Abdullah Saleh the candidate of the People General Congress , the Yemeni Congregation for Reform and the National Council of the Opposition.

The second one was Nageeb Kahtan Al-Sha’abi. He ran as an independent candidate.

The total number of the voters who were registered in the electors lists reached to ( 5.600.119), whereas the number of voters who cast their ballots reached to ( 3.773.941 ).

The rate of the participation reached to (67.37 ).
Ali Abdullah Saleh won (3.583.795) of the votes , that is eventually 96.20 % .

Nageeb Kahtan Al-Sha’abi hardly calculated (141.433) of the votes what it made up 3.80 %.

Constitutional amendments took place in the country in February 2001. The most important of the amendments were the following :
1- Extending the presidency's term from 5 to 7 years and the parliament’s term to 6 years instead of 4.
2- Abolishment the president's prerogative to issue republican decrees by laws during the parliament vocation .
3-Authorizing the president of the republic to appoint the members of Al-Shura Council (111members).
SABANET