The founding of the Islah Party on 13 September 1990 was a watershed in Yemen’s contemporary political history. It represented an important shift in the thought and performance of what used to be known as the Islamic Movement prior to the unification of Yemen. It was also an acknowledgement of, as well as a commitment to, embracing the principle of political pluralism and the multi-party system that were born simultaneously with the founding of the Republic of Yemen on 22 May 1990.

    It was also an expression of the willingness to deal positively with the Republic as a new political reality in the lives of the Yemeni people. It was a prudent decision by the Party founders to choose Islah (Reform) as a name, for it does indeed reflect genuine Yemeni roots and expresses a continuation of the enlightened reform currents that were known to the Yemenis during the last three centuries that witnessed a concerted endeavour by those currents to liberate the Yemeni people from the yoke of the racist Imamate regime and its backward thinking and repressive policy.