Long-form name: Yemen Arab Republic; abbreviated YAR

Type: republic; military regime assumed power in June 1974

Capital: Sanaa

Administrative divisions: 11 governorates (muhafazat, singular--muhafazah); Al Bayda, Al Hudaydah, Al Jawf, Al Mahwit, Dhamar, Hajjah, Ibb, Marib, Sadah, Sana, Taizz

Independence: November 1918 (from Ottoman Empire)

Constitution: 28 December 1970, suspended 19 June 1974

Legal system: based on Turkish law, Islamic law, and local customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

National holiday: Proclamation of the Republic, 26 September (1962)

Executive branch: president, vice president, prime minister, four deputy prime ministers, Council of Ministers (cabinet)

Legislative branch: unicameral Consultative Assembly (Majlis ash-Shura)

Judicial branch: State Security Court

Leaders: Chief of State--President Col. Ali Abdallah SALIH (since 18 July 1978); Vice President (vacant); Head of Government--Prime Minister Abd al-Aziz ABD AL-GHANI (since 12 November 1983, previously prime minister from 1975-1980 and co-Vice President from October 1980 to November 1983)

Political parties and leaders: no legal political parties; in 1983 President Salih started the General People's Congress, which is designed to function as the country's sole political party

Suffrage: universal at age 18

Elections: Consultative Assembly--last held 5 July 1988 (next to be held NA); results--percent of vote NA; seats--(159 total, 128 elected)

Communists: small number

Other political or pressure groups: conservative tribal groups, Muslim Brotherhood, leftist factions--pro-Iraqi Bathists, Nasirists, National Democratic Front (NDF) supported by the PDRY

Member of: ACC, Arab League, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB--Islamic Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, ITU, NAM, OIC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO

Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Mohsin A. al-AINI; Chancery at Suite 840, 600 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington DC 20037; telephone (202) 965-4760 or 4761; there is a Yemeni Consulate General in Detroit and a Consulate in San Francisco; US--Ambassador Charles F. DUNBAR; Embassy at address NA, Sanaa (mailing address is P. O. Box 1088, Sanaa); telephone p967o (2) 271950 through 271958

Flag: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black with a large green five-pointed star centered in the white band; similar to the flags of Iraq, which has three stars, and Syria, which has two stars--all green and five-pointed in a horizontal line centered in the white band; also similar to the flag of Egypt, which has a symbolic eagle centered in the white band

NOTE: The information regarding Yemen Arab Republic on this page is re-published from the 1990 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Yemen Arab Republic Government 1990 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Yemen Arab Republic Government 1990 should be addressed to the CIA.