The Constitution of Yemen was ratified by popular referendum on May 16, 1991.[1] It defines the republic as an independent and sovereign Arab and Islamic country and establishes sharia, or Islamic law, as the basis of all laws.[1] In February 2001, several amendments were passed by national referendum extending the presidential term to seven years and the parliamentary term to six years and increasing the size and authority of the Shura Council.

Due to the 2011–2012 Yemeni revolution, President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Al-Hadi was expected to draft a new constitution in the 2012-2014 period.[2] In January 2015, a committee had drafted a new constitution; however, both the GPC and Houthi members of the National Authority for Monitoring the Implementation of NDC Outcomes have refused to vote on this draft.[3] This will most likely delay a planned referendum on the new constitution, and therefore the next presidential and parliamentary elections, which have been delayed until the referendum can go ahead.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b Country profile: Yemen. Library of Congress Federal Research Division (August 2008).   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. ^ Ahmed Al-Haj Yemen leader proposes drawing up new constitution, Associated Press, March 10, 2011
  3. ^ "Yemen Times [ Offline ]". Archived from the original on 2018-07-08. Retrieved 2015-01-21.
  4. ^ "SANAA, Yemen: Yemen's 'national dialogue' ends in violence, no election scheduled | Middle East | McClatchy DC". Archived from the original on 2015-01-21. Retrieved 2015-01-21.

Further reading

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  • Hall, Siobhan (1991). "Draft Constitution of the State of Unified Yemen". Yemen: The Politics of Unity. London: Gulf Centre for Strategic Studies. pp. 22–39. ISBN 1-871415-61-6.
  • Maktari, Abdulla; McHugo, John (1992). "The Constitution of the Republic of Yemen". Arab Law Quarterly. 7 (1): 70–82. doi:10.2307/3381862. JSTOR 3381862.
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