<hdr>The World Factbook 1994: Yemen<nl>Government</hdr><body>
<list>
<item><hi format=bold>Names:</hi>
<list style=hang>
<item>• <hi format=ital>conventional long form:</hi> Republic of Yemen
<item>• <hi format=ital>conventional short form:</hi> Yemen
<item>• <hi format=ital>local long form:</hi> Al Jumhuriyah al Yamaniyah
<item>• <hi format=ital>local short form:</hi> Al Yaman
</list>
<item><hi format=bold>Digraph:</hi> YM
<item><hi format=bold>Type:</hi> republic
<item><hi format=bold>Capital:</hi> Sanaa
<item><hi format=bold>Administrative divisions:</hi> 17 governorates (muhafazat, singular—muhafazah); Abyan, Adan, Al Bayda, Al Hudaydah, Al Jawf, Al Mahrah, Al Mahwit, Dhamar, Hadramaut, Hajjah, Ibb, Lahij, Marib, Sadah, Sana, Shabwah, Taizz
<list style=hang>
<item>• <hi format=ital>note:</hi> there may be a new capital district of Sana
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<item><hi format=bold>Independence:</hi> 22 May 1990 Republic of Yemen was established on 22 May 1990 with the merger of the Yemen Arab Republic {Yemen (Sanaa) or North Yemen} and the Marxist-dominated People's Democratic Republic of Yemen {Yemen (Aden) or South Yemen}; previously North Yemen had become independent on NA November 1918 (from the Ottoman Empire) and South Yemen had become independent on 30 November 1967 (from the UK)
<item><hi format=bold>National holiday:</hi> Proclamation of the Republic, 22 May (1990)
<item><hi format=bold>Constitution:</hi> 16 May 1991
<item><hi format=bold>Legal system:</hi> based on Islamic law, Turkish law, English common law, and local customary law; does not accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
<item><hi format=bold>Suffrage:</hi> 18 years of age; universal
<item><hi format=bold>Executive branch:</hi>
<list style=hang>
<item>• <hi format=ital>chief of state and head of government:</hi> President Ali Abdallah SALIH (since 22 May 1990, the former president of North Yemen); note—Sanaa dismissed Vice President Ali Salim al-BIDH, Prime Minister Haydar Abu Bakr al-ATTAS (the former president of South Yemen), and 14 other southern officials following the outbreak of civil war on 4 May 1994
<item>• <hi format=ital>five-member Presidential Council:</hi> president, vice president, two members from General People's Congress party, two members from Yemeni Socialist Party, and one member from Yemeni Grouping for Reform, or Islaah party
<item>• <hi format=ital>cabinet:</hi> Council of Ministers
<item><hi format=bold>Political parties and leaders:</hi> Ba'thist parties; General People's Congress (GPC), Ali Abdallah SALIH; Hizb al Haqq, Ibrahim al-WAZIR, Sheikh Ahmad ibn Ali SHAMI (Secretary General); Nasserist parties; Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP), Ali Salim al-BIDH; Yemeni Grouping for Reform or Islaah, Shaykh Abdallah bin Husayn al-AHMAR
<item><hi format=bold>Other political or pressure groups:</hi> NA
<item><hi format=bold>Flag:</hi> three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black; similar to the flag of Syria which has two green stars and of Iraq which has three green stars (plus an Arabic inscription) 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