Direct presidential elections were held in

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

for the first time on 23 September 1999. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I'', p301 Candidates had to be approved by at least 10% of the 301 members of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

; however, in practice this meant that only two parties, the ruling General People's Congress (GPC) and

Al-Islah Islah or Al-Islah is an Arabic word usually translated as "reform", in the sense of "to improve, to better, to correct something and removing vice or to put something into a better position." Islah may also refer to: People *Islah Jad (born 1951), ...

had enough seats to nominate their candidates. However, al-Islah backed the GPC candidate, incumbent President

Ali Abdullah Saleh Ali Abdullah Saleh al-Ahmar (, ''ʿAlī ʿAbdullāh Ṣāliḥ al-Aḥmar;'' 21 March 1947There is a dispute as to Saleh's date of birth, some saying that it was on 21 March 1942. See: However, by Saleh's own confession, he was born in 1947 al ...

rather than running a candidate of their own. The only candidates that received approval from Parliament were Saleh and

Najeeb Qahtan Al-Sha'abi Najeeb Qahtan al-Shaabi (born 1953 in Sha'ab, Lahj, Yemen – died 24 May 2021 in Aden, Yemen) was a Yemeni politician who was a candidate in the 1999 presidential election in Yemen. He ran as an Independent, despite being a member of the Gener ...

, another member of the GPC. The main opposition candidate, Ali Saleh Obad of the

Yemeni Socialist Party The Yemeni Socialist Party ( ar, الحزب الاشتراكي اليمني, ''al-Hizb al-Ishtiraki al-Yamani'', YSP) is a political party in Yemen. A successor of Yemen's National Liberation Front, it was the ruling party in South Yemen until ...

, failed to gain enough support in the House of Representatives; his party subsequently boycotted the elections. The reported voter turnout of 67.5% was contested by the opposition.

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:Nominations for the presidency
Al-Bab, 20 July 1999 #

– supported by the General People's Congress,

, National Opposition Council) #Ali Salih 'Ubad Muqbil – supported by parties in the Supreme Co-ordination Council for the Opposition #Abd al-Quwi Ahmad Hamoud Shuwi'a – supported by the People's Democratic Party #Al-Habbani Muhammad abd al-Malik Nu'man al-'Abassi – supported by the Yemeni Popular Unity Party #Ali bin Ali Sabihi #Muhammad Muhammad Hizam al-Yamani #Amin Ahmad Thabit #Abd al-Wahhab Muhammad Hassan al-Karidi #Abdullah Salih Salih al-Bakhiti #Muhammad Ahmad Sa'ad al-Dhufari #Faisal Ali Ahmad Ghaaithan al-Tawil #Salih Hassan Abdullah al-'Azani #Abd al-Malik Yahya Ahmad Hanash #Ahmad Ali Hussein Yahya al-'Amri #Muhammad A'id Qa'id al-'Uthmali #Ali Salih al-Houri #Muhammad Ali Muhsin al-Sirri #Salih Ahmad bin Ahmad Jubah #Muhammad Hussein al-Jamuzi #Ali Abdullah Salih Muhsin Suroub #Abd al-Wahhab Qanaf Sha'if #Mustafa Youssef Khalil #Iskandar Ali al-Nathari #Mustafa Ali Naji 'Aiyash #Ahmad Muslih al-Barti #Ma'adh Abdullah al-Shahani #Ahmad Abduh al-Ramim #

– MP for the General People's Congress, running as an independent The following were disqualified: #Amin Ahmad bin Ahmad Thabit (candidates must not be married to a foreigner and he had a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n wife) #Abdullah Salih Salih Muhsin Surub (minimum age is 40, he was 38) #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 elections. Another candidate, Khalid al-Zarraka, did not appear on the publicised list of nominations, but was included in the parliamentary vote. Only two candidates managed to obtain the required number of votes; Saleh and

. Twenty-one of the 25 candidates (including al-Zarraka) did not receive any votes.

Results

References

{{Yemeni elections Presidential elections in Yemen

1999 in Yemen