JMP Statement on Electoral Competition
The Yemeni voter is looking at the elections this time with a keener eye. He has arrived at a better standard of living and a freer life. He will not accept anything less than free and fair elections thus making this electoral experience a source of pride for all Yemenis.
It is no longer acceptable to clone previous electoral experiences in any of their forms (local, parliamentary, or presidential). Many of these experiences witnessed flagrant and open violation of laws and the constitution as well as a counterfeiting of the will of the people. Results were forged. This stood in the way of peaceful transfer of power. Instead of freedom there was only a semblance of plurality.
There must be found an electoral environment that is neutral, transparent, and fair. A political climate that grants opportunities for competition according to the constitution and law is needed. None of this will come to pass without the presence of an independent and neutral High Commission for Elections.
Based on that given, the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) presented its vision for electoral reform as well as the necessary guarantees to effect free and fair elections now and in the future. It requires little more than a credible political will from all sides (specifically from the side of the ruling party). Some of these guarantees call for legal amendments (specifically one that calls for legislative and constitutional amendments in connection with parliamentary and shura council elections.
First: Electoral Management Reform
The previous electoral experiences left no room for doubt that electoral credibility is based primarily on the neutrality and independence of the electoral management. The High Commission for Elections is in the forefront and plays a central role in this by virtue of it being the highest authority according to clause 159 of the Yemeni constitution. This clause commissions the HCE with management, supervision, and oversight of all elections. This power comes preconditioned on the guarantees of independence and neutrality to ensure credibility. Bill 13 for the year 2001 confirmed that this commission would be independent both managerially and financially in order to perform all its tasks without pressure or coercion. The bill further stipulates that there will be no intervention by any party in the affairs of the HCE. Despite a long list of offences and infractions, the HCE enjoys a certain amount of confidence among the people and parties thanks to its results.
Current Infractions
1. HCE’s lack of authority to manage the elections and general referenda that are under its purview. Currently there are 5 ruling party members and only 2 opposition members. This is an infraction of the constitution and makes the ruling party a hegemon in the administration of the election process.
2. The HCE does not hold to the legal injunction concerning the appointment of its employees in the administrative department, either locally or generally. Paragraph C of Clause 24 of the electoral law number 13 for the year 2001 stipulates that the appointing mechanism must be based on conditions set by the committee. However, the HCE was keen to appoint members of the ruling party in an attempt to liquidate the opposition from administration. This in turn made any opposition or independent member a marginalized employee. Ruling party members took their positions a fact that led to semi-total control on the part of the ruling party in the technical and administrative unit of the HCE.
3. The HCE granted the ruling party to gerrymander the local electoral precincts according to political accounting that served their interests. Such action was in flagrant opposition to the law.
4. The HCE was not able to perform its duties to oversee the elections as well as the neutrality of the media and public monies. It did not take any steps concerning infractions or violations made and ignored all complaints.
5. The HCE appeared reckless in organizing the elections according to their legally-appointed dates. It feigned side disputes with the opposition at the expense of time and invalidated it instead of making early arrangements to set up elections in a proper atmosphere.
6. The HCE was heavily involved in counterfeiting results and continuously committed grave legal infractions. This was announced during the elections of 2003.
7. The HCE mismanaged elections in precinct 227 in the governorate of Remeh and encouraged an atmosphere of counterfeit and legal infraction. It appointed members of the electoral commissions single-handedly and deprived the parties of any oversight. This increased doubt among many concerning the neutrality and fairness of the elections and their management.
8. The HCE used the media in all its forms to attack the opposition parties and to distort their positions. It affected crises with them at time when it was supposed to be a neutral judge.
9. The HCE distributed pamphlets prematurely which was not in accordance to the law. It drafted instructions to push for more elbow room and counterfeiting of records and did nothing to fix the other infractions.
10. There was no transparency which was stipulated by the law that all its actions must be done in full view. Such violations include the following: A) the law stipulates that the parties are to obtain a copy of the voters’ records. It is the responsibility of the parties, the HCE, and the voter to watch over this and to correct any errors continuously to assure all information is correct. However, over the course of two years, the HCE refused to deal with the parties’ demands for this information. B) The law gives the right to any voter to review and discard any decision made by the HCE. However, the HCE has blacked out its decisions and does not announce them except when it is to late to oppose them. C) The HCE refuses to allow parties or organizations to look at any of the ballots despite their completion last August.
11. It has not developed the electoral experience by ignoring the initiatives of the parties and international organizations that began in 2004.
12. It has repeatedly interpreted the lie with arbitrariness. This has led to favoring of the ruling party. Any claims of neutrality have been eroded.
Proposed Fixes
1. Ratify a set legal instrument to re-form the HCE according to the following criteria: a) form it based on equality among all political organizations; b) appointments to the HCE are the exclusive purview of the parliament; c) present its yearly budget and its final accounts before the parliament; d) form an assistant administration composed of competent and qualified people who are neutral; e) subject the administration of the HCE to supervision to prevent one of its members from acting independently; f) allow for oversight and supervision; g) require all its members to present their personal finances before and after their service in the HCE; h) require the HCE to adhere to public opinion during all steps of its work.
2. Guarantee women’s participation in the High Commission as well as other committees (oversight, political, and administration).
3. Apply criminal punishments to members of the committee that infracts laws.
4. Remain aware of the truthfulness of electoral records by a) finding complete civil records and rely on them completely; b) set a clear mechanism that facilitates checking for duplicate names, etc.; c) review previous documents and models and remove any information that conflicts with the law such as canceling the requirement for place of work and negating the role of the head of the alley.
5. Intensify training of the committees to raise their skills and legal awareness concerning infractions and stipulations.
6. Form oversight committees according to the principle that no more than one representative from each party can be on a committee. This insures neutrality and balance.
7. Perform their constitutional duty by developing and modernizing the electoral process via evaluating former processes and treating their deficiencies as well as implementing proposals that had been ratified by international political organizations and civil society in 2004.
Second: Electoral System Reform
Current Infractions
1. Many different forms of infractions have occurred not the least of which include: skewing final results during the past three parliamentary elections. This is a natural extension of the flaws in the current electoral system “first winner” that translates vote percentage into won seats. This occurred in during the previous elections and allowed the ruling party to form a parliament according to their desires. Additionally, they modified the system to make sure they obtained won seats. Despite winning 29% of the vote in 1993, the ruling party gained 122 seats, or 41% of total parliamentary seats. In 1997, they won 43% of the votes and ended up with 189 seats (or 63%). In 2003, they obtained 58% but came away with 229 seats or 76% of all seats. This confirms that the ruling party is the only beneficiary of the flaws in the system. In 1993, it obtained 36 additional seats; in 1997 60 additional; and in 2003 55 additional seats.
2. There is an absence of just representation of opposition parties in 1997 and 2003 despite obtaining 57% of the votes in 1997. The opposition won only 112 seats which equals only 37% of total seats. In 2003, the opposition won 42% of the votes but in the end only received 72 seats of 24% of the total.
3. Smaller parties were deprived the most of just representation during the past three elections.
4. Women’s participation as candidates also shrunk during the last elections despite her increased participation as voters. 43% of all voters were female. During the past three elections, her numbers as candidate have decreased from 41 to 23 to 11. Only one woman won a parliamentary seat in 2003.
5. The number of missing votes rose to 351 thousand which equals 16% of total voters in 1993 and translates into 47 seats. In 1997, the number rose to 527 thousand, or 19% of voters equaling 58 seats and in 2003 this number rose to 1.1 million or 18% of voters and 55 seats.
6. Political party participation also decreased. In 1993, all parties participated (22) 8 of which won representation. In 1997, only 12 participated, only 4 gained representation. And in 2003, despite 21 parties running only 5 were later represented in parliament.
7. The current system of winner first roots tribal loyalties and goes against what the constitution stipulates in clause 75 stating that a MP represents the people as a whole and watches over the common interest.
8. Qualitative competency of choosing candidates to enter the electoral competition has decreased due to the current system of winner first. In this system, the emphasis is placed on those candidates who are most likely to win despite their qualifications. This has affected the qualitative formation of the parliament.
9. The current system is both costly and consumes too much time and is overly complicated. Lines must be drawn and voters must be registered according to these lines. Amendments must be made continuously according to population changes and gerrymandering must be stopped.
10. The disadvantages of this system (winner first) are visible in local elections also.
11. There is an absence of special legislation for electing the Shura Council.
Proposed Fixes
Priority must be given to geographic representation so that each population region has an opinion in local matters. Relative representation and representation requirements for independents must be set in order to avoid the pitfalls of the current winner first system. We see that a system of mixed membership based on combining the advantages of the current system with those of the isolated system will be appropriate for the circumstances of Yemen and will achieve the special local electoral considerations.
Urgent Fixes
1. Insure expansion of political participation and inculcate the idea of plurality. Achieve justice through appropriate translating of votes into seats. Oversight divisions will strengthen the democratic process and increase confidence in the elections as a democratic mechanism for the peaceful transition of power.
2. Avoid the unjust results of the current winner first system by helping the legislative body increase more representation for voters.
3. Assure the representation of political parties and organizations in parliament including small parties and marginalized groups. Stop the hegemony of one over the other in parliament. This will activate the role of the parliament as well as the role of oversight and strengthen democracy and political stability in the country.
4. Assure the real possibility of women’s representation.
5. Stop the tribal and regional conflict for the good of the national competition.
6. Decrease costs and overhead to the minimum.
7. Put an end to counterfeiting.
8. Grant participation in accounting, authority, and fighting against corruption. Find political stability and achieve national growth.
9. Choose qualified candidates.
10. Make the electoral system easier for voters.
11. The closed national ballot is considered the most cost effective system and easiest to manage because it uses one national precinct or large precincts made up of different memberships and there is no need to draw electoral borders or precincts.
12. Issue necessary legislation for the running of elections for the Shura Council that assures equality.
Third: Insure Neutrality of the Media
Current Problems
1. Media is neither independent nor neutral and is subject to the authority and ruling party.
2. The High Commission for Elections refrains from using its constitutional authority to ensure neutral media.
3. Other parties are unable to use media to make their position known.
4. Interfering and omitting the platforms of the electoral parties.
5. Using the media as a propaganda tool for the ruling party on different occasions.
6. Using the media to distort and defame the opposition parties and to incite against them.
7. Standing in the way of the constitutional right of others to use the media.
Proposed Fixes
1. Form a national council for media to raise the media message and to control the use of the media for the good of society. Transform the media to a national institution. Impose safeguards for the neutrality of the media to not be used for the good of one party.
2. Draft a bill stipulating the removal of any official in the media who breaks the neutrality of the media and implement punishment for such infractions.
3. Draft a law criminalizing any act that affects the neutrality of the media.
4. Stop all action that puts an end to freedom of speech and seeks to harm journalists and opposition papers.
5. Draft a law preventing the media from libel and slander against the parties and to prevent incitement. The media is obligated to allow the opposition an opportunity to exhibit their platforms and programs. The media should cover their programs and activities equally.
Fourth: Guarantee Neutrality of Public Employment and Public Monies
Current Problems
1. Lack of independence and neutrality of public employment and public monies and being subject to the hegemony of the executive power and the ruling party.
2. Use of the ruling party of public employment to apply pressure to employees in different civil, military, and security sectors and to direct their will towards choosing the citizen that has been predetermined by the ruling party.
3. Instilling a culture of hate for the opposition parties in both the military and security apparatuses.
4. Connecting job offers or job stability with voting for the ruling party’s candidate.
5. Using the employment sites to influence the will of the voters.
6. Using employment powers to intervene in the workings of the electoral committees on all levels.
7. Subject the public buildings (e.g. schools, governmental offices, barracks, universities, transport, communications in addition to the resources of the country) for the good of the electoral campaigns of the ruling party.
8. Using public monies and resources to flagrantly bribe workers in the electoral administration and to make the results appear in favor of the ruling party’s candidate.
Proposed Fixes
1. Form a national body for the civil service. Set a law and the way in which to form the body alongside with by-laws and annul the ministry of civil service.
2. Draft a law insisting that manager of municipalities and governorates undertake any electoral activity for the good of any party or any candidate in any way regardless of orientation or action.
3. Commit the High Commission to keep media and public monies and public employment neutral. Refer anyone who infracted this law to the court system. Allow the High Commission to supervise and oversee and assure neutrality.
4. The supreme leader of the armed forces is to issue an order insuring that those in the military and security forces are allowed to vote and present candidates for elections in a climate of neutrality. Criminalize any form of compulsion. Encourage and aid those wanting to register or amend their voter status.
5. Issue a ruling binding all civil servants to not perform any effort that could be deemed biased.
6. Criminal all appearances of electoral corruption including distributing money and resources as bribes. Obligate the judicial body to consider these practices as crimes.
7. Ban all officials or public employees from donating or loaning money or using public monies to help the electoral campaigns, whether this is parliamentary or otherwise.
8. Prevent party employment and employment levels on all levels of the state and its institutions. Cancel what has occurred previously and treat its affects.
9. Separate the administration from the political sphere and commit the civil service to offering equal opportunity to all citizens to participate in their constitutional rights.
10. Make punishments more severe for the security forces and executive power for intervening in the mission of the High Commission.
11. Issue a clear announcement condemning co-opting any resources to be used in the competition.
12. Reform the legal stipulation giving the authority to the High Commission to observe funding and expenditures of the elections as well as propaganda. Set a maximum amount for spending on campaigns. Parties must reveal sources and amounts of their funding before and after the elections. Do not allow donation amounts that could lead to corruption.
13. Issue quickly a law fighting corruption.
Fifth: Judicial Guarantees
Current Problems
1. Hegemony of the executive power over the judicial violating clause 149 of the constitution.
2. Ruling party applies pressure on courts and judges and their rulings.
3. Current practices prevent the executive from being subject to the judicial. Law Number 6 of 1995 concerning state employees goes against the principle of sovereignty of the law and equality of citizens.
4. Semi-complete absence of mechanisms or instruments to for judicial control over electoral criminals as stipulated by the electoral law.
5. Current atmosphere does not allow for the judiciary to perform its duties. Those who refused to subject themselves to the executive have been marginalized.
6. Lack of specialized administrative judges.
Proposed Fixes
1. Form a national body of lawyers that has judicial control over electoral issues. It will have branches in the capital and governorates.
2. The body will undertake judicial control over the following: a) receive complaints from voters and parties and political organizations concerning criminals and electoral infractions from any group; b) investigate these complaints within 24 hours; c) follow up; d) follow up on any group that refrains from executing the decisions or rulings that have been passed.
3. The judicial body will enjoy the right to intervene if it sees its rulings not instated and will correct laws.
4. The members of the body will enjoy immunity like other judges and the military cadres will interact with it as such.
5. Appointment of the body in all voting centers during the election and sorting of votes. It will document infractions. It will have the right to make judicial edits and not accept counterfeit. These representatives will be chosen from among the courts and judiciary and the district attorney’s office. If there is a lack of enough, then lawyers may be appointed.
6. Issue instructions and by-laws for the running of its mission.
7. The body will be composed of 7 members, 2 will be delegates from among the specialized judges in the criminal judiciary administration. Three will be chosen from among the supreme court judges who have retired. The final 2 will be professors chosen for their experience and ability.
8. The by-laws will clarify choosing branch members.
Sixth: Political Guarantees
Current Political Problems
1. Repeated refusal of the ruling party to level the electoral field and to reform the current problems in the rules of the political game and to ready the climate for elections in which everyone has equal opportunity.
2. Instilling a culture of hate and violence in the political discourse of the ruling party against the opposition.
3. Plays an adversarial role against the opposition in the political life. It has attempted to stop the funding of the opposition and confiscated their belongings.
4. Narrowing of rights and freedoms granted by the constitution.
5. Widespread revenge and killing between the tribes and the renewing of old feuds.
Proposed Fixes
1. Issue a political announcement stipulating the treatment of these affects caused by dispute and war beginning in 1994. Achieve reconciliation to strengthen the nation and to strengthen the parties thus creating a democratic environment that is equal opportunity.
2. Form a body to document these affects and injuries and suggest legal treatment for them.
3. Return the belongings of the parties and their headquarters. Give full rights to those retired and the handicapped.
4. Criminalize the call for violence and incitement and spread a culture of dialogue and reconciliation and mutual respect.
5. Lift the restraints on activities of the parties and civil society and pay the deserved wages according to law.
6. Create a political life and stop treason campaigns waged against the opposition. Stop corruption of the democratic life and interfering with internal affairs of the parties.
7. Seek resolution of current bloody disputes. Stop revenge between the tribes. Resolve pending revenge cases.
Conclusion
We stand before critical situations and there are numerous breaches of the electoral law and in the general politics of the country. We are preparing for elections, both local and presidential, and call, as the Joint Meeting Parties, for serious and constructive dialogue. All are invited to participate to reform these breaches in order to escape from our current predicament and to guarantee development of instruments and mechanisms to level the electoral playing field. We wish to create an environment appropriate for democratic elections and to offer equal opportunity to all parties to participate uninhibited. This dialogue will extend through different stages of the elections, the first of which during this period of registration. This will enrich the democratic experience and develop it. Thus, in this context we confirm our credibility and our keenness to rectify these problems and to improve the situation of democracy and to increase confidence in the process and results. We announce our vision for the JMP to reform electoral administration and the current electoral system and seek constructive and responsible dialogue with the ruling party and different political and social organizations in the country seeking to guarantee free and fair elections, both current and future.
With sincerity,
The Joint Meeting Parties (JMP)
