48 • Freedom of economic activity, respect for private ownership, and reduction of the role of the state in economic endeavours; • Re-enforcing the economic independence of Yemen and liber­ating economic activity from the political process; • Orienting foreign policy towards the issues of Arab and Islamic nations, and improving relations with these countries. 3.3.2. Party Structure A. Membership The party has a moral and ethical code, contained in the bylaws of its Political Program, which lists the conditions for membership and the duties and responsibilities of members. However, in terms of the racial, ethnic, religious, regional, gender and age composition of the party, Islah generally appeals to both males and females, typically to younger people, and especially those who are conservative who have very strong Islamic beliefs, or a strong tribal background. Therefore, general mem­bership is young. The leadership typically consists of the older generations that have cut their teeth with the Ikhwan(Muslim Brotherhood). Islah has a definite regional bent drawing heavily from the Hadramaut coast, the city of Taiz, and the tribes of the Yemeni highlands whose membership gener­ally follow their sheikhs into political parties. So, the party primarily appeals to religious conservatives, but some of its strongest opposition comes from competing groups of religious con­servatives. Being almost a primarily Shafa’i(Sunni Muslim) group, Islah has yet to gain a foothold among the Zaydi(Shi’i) Muslims of Sana’a and Hodeidah and Sada’ah. In addition, the Salafi movement(which is an extremely conservative fundamentalist Islamic movement that emerged from the Sada’ah area and is quickly gaining followers throughout the country) draws many potential Shafa’i members away from Islah. The Salafis generally en-