61 respected within the party as well as through out the opposition. He is considered the godfather of the Yemeni opposition since 1994 civil war. The YSP was the ruling party of the PDRY(South Yemen) from the party’s inception in 1978 until unification in 1990. From 1990 up to the 1993 parliamentary elections, the YSP ruled in coalition with the GPC. Following the 1993 elections, YSP participated in a tripartite coalition with GPC and Islah, which ended with the civil uprising in 1994. In the 1993 elections, YSP was the leading party in almost every constituency of the former South Yemen, winning 56 seats. YSP still came in third place in election behind GPC by 122 seats, and Islah by 64. However, YSP boycotted the last parliamentary elections of 1997. B. Definition and Guiding Principles In its Political Program, YSP identifies itself as“a social democratic party that struggles for building a modern democratic state, whose powers rest upon the fundamentals of the Constitution, and in which the role of the institutions is reinforced, a democratic local Government is founded, the law prevails, citizens are equal in rights and duties, human rights are maintained, and civil society institutions prosper.” Most recently looking for a new role to play in Yemen politics, one of YSP’s most intractable problems is deciding how to realistically answer the following question. As the ruling party of the former People’s De­mocratic Republic of Yemen(PDRY), YSP was supposed to participate with GPC, as a relatively equal partner, in the post-1990 unified Ye­men. In reality, the YSP was the junior partner in the coalition govern­ment from 1990 to 1994. YSP has been further weakened as a result of a civil conflict in 1994 in part, and by a secessionist movement spon­sored by powerful leaders inside the YSP and supported by some of Yemen’s neighbouring countries and rich Gulf States as well as some Western Capitals. So, YSP’s biggest concern has been how to deal with its new surroundings.