Yemen Polling Center (YPC) conducted a survey on partnering society in decision making, specifically in matters relating to the suggested amendments to General Elections and Referendum Law and the formation of the Supreme Commission of Elections and Referendum (SCER).

The survey was conducted on the elite of society including politicians, journalists, civil society activists, businessmen, academics, members of syndicates and university students.

Opposition papers come in the first place as for the sources from which the respondents obtain the news over the ongoing debate over the formation of SCER with 23 percent. Independent papers come next with 17.6 percent. Only 14.6 percent get information from Yemeni official TV and 13 percent get information from friends during qat-chewing sessions.

There has been no agreement over a certain mechanism for forming the SCER and electoral committees, subcommittees and field committees. Woman respondents emphasize that women should have a decided quota in the different electoral committees and 71 percent of correspondents agreed to this.

Over 29 percent stated that it should be equally formed through the political parties represented in parliament. About 20 percent see that it should be formed through judges. Others hold that the commission should be formed by the party having an overwhelming majority in parliament.

About 71 percent of the respondents agreed that a neutral national committee should control the Central Bank of Yemen during the different elections, and 60 percent stress the importance of neutralizing the public, money, and institutions in publicity campaigns. Likewise, 89 percent see that candidates should reveal the source of finance for their electoral publicity.

Surprisingly enough, 61 percent of the sampled do not know the difference between the concept of relative list and individual list systems in elections among all groups. Journalists and politicians showed they know the differences between both systems; however, their percentage is not to the level expected, especially when they are directly responsible for raising the awareness of people towards this matter.

The study aims to explore the opinions of these factions over the formation of the SCER, adjusting the electoral systems, forming primary committees, subcommittees and field committees, voters’ registration and electoral publicity.

Regarding the political affiliation, 55 percent were politically active while 43 were not. About 50 percent of those with political affiliation belong to General People Congress, 25 percent to Islah Islamic Party and 14 percent to Yemeni Socialist Party.

Half of respondents belong to the capital Sana’a because it is a center for elite, numerous civil society organizations, etc. Other respondents were selected from Aden, Taiz, Al-Hodeidah, Hadramout and Ibb and this was made for demographic and geographic reasons.