At stake in this election:

• 301 seats in the House of Representatives (Majlis Annowab)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Ali Abdallah SALIH
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Abd al-Qadir BA JAMAL
• Assembly: Yemen has a bicameral Legislature consisting of the Shura Council with 111 seats and the House of Representatives (Majlis Annowab) with 301 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by direct popular vote to serve a 7-year term.
• In the Shura Council 111 members are appointed by the president. In the House of Representatives (Majlis Annowab) 301 members are elected by popular vote to serve 6-year terms.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: General People's Congress (GPC)*
  • Leader: Ali Abdallah SALIH
  • Seats won in this House of Representatives election: 238
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 189
• Party: Yemeni Congregation for Reform / Islah
  • Leader: Shaykh Abdallah bin Husayn al-AHMAR
  • Seats won in this House of Representatives election: 46
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 52
• Party: Yemen Socialist Party
  • Leader: Ali Salih MUQBIL
  • Seats won in this House of Representatives election: 8
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: N/A
• Party: Nasserite Unionist Party
  • Leader: Abdel Malik al-MAKHLAFI
  • Seats won in this House of Representatives election: 3
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 3
• Party: National Arab Socialist Baath Party
  • Leader: Dr. Quasim SALAAM
  • Seats won in this House of Representatives election: 2
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 2
• Party: Others
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this House of Representatives election: 4
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: N/A

* As of January 2002, the number of seats received for each party in parliament were as follows: GPC 223, Islah 64, Nasserite Unionist Party 3, National Arab Socialist Baath Party 2, Yemenist Socialist Party (YSP) 2, independents 7.

Last Legislative election:

• Legislative elections were last held on April 27, 1997.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 18,701,257 (July 2002 est.)
• Registered Voters: 8,035,721 ( 2003 )