Goals and Objectives of This Survey
The main objectives of the survey are to measure the opinion and attitudes of the Yemeni
public towards: a) the image of political parties in society; b) obstacles facing citizens in communicating with political parties and vice versa; c) effective communication mechanisms between political parties and citizens; d) important issues and priorities to citizens; e) causes of low political participation among citizens; f) actions, activities, and motivations to increase citizens’ political participation; and g) necessary measures for political and electoral reforms.

Study Community
This opinion survey was implemented during the period 5-15 March 2010 in 12 governorates spanning most of the country: Sana’ city, Taiz, Ibb, Al-Hodeidah, Dhamar, Hajjah, Aden, Hadhramout, Mareb, Lahj, Abyan, and Amran. The survey targeted 1000 respondents from the 12 governorates. The distribution of the respondents was proportional to the population of each governorate. Males constituted 50.2% and the females constituted 49.8% of the respondents. The interviews were conducted by 38 male and female field researchers and 6 field coordinators. The interviewers were trained for 6 days on the selection of respondents and how to conduct the interviews. Below are the study community characteristics.

Geographic Representation
The interviews were conducted in 102 neighborhoods and quarters scattered in 94 districts in the 12 governorates. The neighborhoods, quarters, districts and governorates were selected based on a random sample determined through a multi-phase process. The first phase was choosing 12 governorates out of 19. Sa’ada governorate was not included for security reasons.

Key General Results
Democracy, Freedom, and Political Awareness
 When asked what democracy means a majority (54.4 percent) of Yemenis polled stated that democracy means the freedom of expression.
 More than three-quarter (76 percent) of Yemenis, believe that democracy is important for the development of the country.
 A sizable majority (61 percent) of Yemenis believe that democracy is or will be part of the solution to Yemen’s problems.
 A majority of respondents (54 percent) of the respondents noted that it is difficult for a group of people to establish a political party without any interference from the government,
 Nearly 60 percent of the respondents said that they can elect their choice of candidates freely.
 Roughly one-third (35.3 percent) of respondents agreed that people are able to criticize the government without any fear, while a similar proportion (33.1 percent) disagreed.

Party Public Image
 While 39.6 percent of citizens, particularly men, consider political parties to be important to Yemen, 33.4 percent of the citizens believe that political parties are unimportant. The rest of Yemeni citizens do not know whether or not political parties are important to Yemen.
 Nearly half (47.9 percent) of the respondents who considered political parties to be unimportant, especially women respondent,s perceive parties to break up and create enmities among the people. A further 37.2 percent of the respondents consider political parties to be unimportant because the parties do not perform their functions and do not address citizens’ concerns.
 Only 11.4 percent of citizens, most of whom were male, always follow party news in while to 65.1 percent of citizens do not follow party news at all.
 Almost half (48.9 percent) of the respondents said that they did not know what the main function of political parties is while only 2.5 percent of the respondents said the main function of a political party is to present political and economic programs to run the country.
 Only 12.3 percent of citizens have total confidence in political parties in comparison to 47.9 percent of citizens who do not have confidence in political parties at all.
 More than a quarter (27.6 percent) of the respondents, mostly male respondents said that they are affiliated with political parties, but only 12.5 percent of them had been informed about party platforms and literatures.
 Only 13.3 of the respondents stated that they had heard of an activity, inside or outside their regions which was organized by a political party.

Assessment of Party Performance
 Nearly two-fifths (38.4 percent) of the respondents said that there are clear differences in platforms of political parties or in what parties advocate.
 About one-third (32.7 percent) of respondents said that they do not know whether any party proposes adequate solutions to the country’s problems and 19.4 percent of the respondents said no party proposes adequate solutions.
 While 32.1 percent of the respondents agreed that opposition parties possess the capacity to influence government policies, 25.7 percent disagreed. Further, more than one-third (34.3 percent) of respondents said that they do not know whether or not opposition parties posses the capacity to influence government policies.

Political Parties and Citizens’ Priorities
 Living conditions, the economic situation, and creating job opportunities are the most important issues for politicians, political parties and elected officials to give priority to and to focus on the most, according to a plurality of respondents (38.7 percent).
 Security issues in general and local crises such as Sa’ada war and the Southern Movement ought to be the top priority for politicians, political parties and elected officials according to 23.7 of the respondents.
While 28.3 percent of the respondents noted that there is a political party currently in existence which adopts and expresses the interests of citizens, 58.4 percent said there is no such political party currently in Yemen.
 A majority (57.5 percent) of respondents said that party leaders do not care about the interests of citizens.
 More than three-quarters (77.7 percent) of respondents said that political parties and candidates only address issues important to citizens during elections.
 While 16 percent of the respondents said that political parties offer excellent plans to develop the country, 41.4 percent of them believe that they do not do that.

Communication Methods
 About half (48.4 percent) of respondents who follow news about political parties said that they follow party news through TV while 31.9 percent of them through magazines and newspapers.
 While 32 percent of party-informed respondents said that they had received the party platform and literatures from party leaders in the region, 20 percent of them said that they had obtained party platform and literatures from family members- relatives friends.