31 opposition parties all make strong showings in Taiz, and the GPC has not been able to win a comfortable majority of parliamentary seats there. However, since the parliamentary elections of 1997, all of Yemen’s major political parties, including the GPC have engaged in massive membership campaigns and are actively expanding their bases of sup­port. In 1997, the GPC membership stood at around 1 million. How­ever, following the 1997-1998 membership drive, the GPC now claims to have2.15 million members. So, the party membership isn’t shrinking but growing. It may be because the GPC is the ruling party and mem­bership in the GPC can mean significant advantages to businessmen, military and security personnel 2 , government workers and politicians. On the other hand there are many persons who supporters of the GPC without becoming a member. _K=m~êíó=iÉ~ÇÉêëÜáé= Let us now take up racial, ethnic, tribal, religious and gender composi­tion of the party leadership. The GPC was conceived in 1982 as a na­tional conference designed to end the fighting among competing politi­cal movements which had destabilised the YAR throughout the 1970s. As a result, the GPC has been, and still is, an umbrella organisation for various political ideologies, religious sects and tribal groups. The GPC leadership contains Muslims from the Zaydi and Shafa’ communities, with representatives from all areas of the country and all tribes. This is partially a result of President Saleh’s ruling style over the past twenty years in which he elevates natural leaders such as sheikhs and religious figures from all areas of the country, and uses these people to spread the GPC’s influence in their regions when it is needed. Although most of Yemen’s regional, religious and tribal groups are re­presented in the leadership of GPC, the most powerful leaders are usu­ally those who have personal, family or tribal ties with the President, or those who have a trusted family background. 2 It is prohibited constitutionally and legally.