After the announcement of the institution of the Yemeni Islah Party in September 1990, branches of the emerging Party have been formed in all Yemeni Governorates, including the southern Governorates, due to the affiliation of the founders and leaders of the Islah Party to various regions of Yemen. From the moment of its institution, the Party has had a presence at the level of the entire country and was not limited to a specific region or regions.

In southern Yemen, as in the north, the Islah Party has formed an organizational and political framework and broad sectors of Yemeni society, as the intellectual and historical extension of the enlightenment movement. And the Islah Party, whose firebrand were carried by the pioneers of Islamic thought in Yemen, including scholars, thinkers and reformers, the most prominent of whom were al-Hassan bin Ahmed al-Hamdani, Nashwan bin Saeed al-Himyari, Saleh al-Muqbili, Muhammad bin Ismail al-Amir, Muhammad bin Ali al-Shawkani and Muhammad bin Salem al-Bayhani.

Moderation was one of the most important features of this enlightened Islamic thought stemming from the tolerance of the Islamic religion, rejecting ignorance, stagnation and fanaticism, as well as encouraging positive and active participation, exerting effort for the advancement of society, working to solve its problems and addressing its issues according to visions stemming from the spirit of Islam and the gains of the Yemeni liberation movement and keeping pace with the developments of the times and interacting with reality and not isolated from it.

Within a few months, large elites from different fields and specializations in addition wide segments of different Yemeni society had become members of the Islah Party. Due to that, the Islah Party has gained its presence in all parts of the country, which began to breathe a sigh of relief with the beginning of the emerging democratic experiment after many years of authoritarian and totalitarian rule, which continued to monopolize partisan and political action in the ruling party only (the General People’s Congress Party in the north and the Yemeni Socialist Party in the south).

The city of Aden, the largest city in southern Yemen, was able to absorb the leaders, symbols and members of the new entity, and with this step, Aden was able to regain its previous experience when it embraced the symbols of the Yemeni Islamic Movement and its early pioneers. In Aden, the activities of the Islamic Center, which was founded by Sheikh Muhammad bin Salem al-Bayhani, had emerged, and the youth who were influenced by the ideas of Islamic renewal emerged, such as Omar Salem Tarmoom, the head of the center, and Muhammad Ali al-Bar, the Secretary-General of the Center. Senior scholars who are intellectually close to the youth of the Islamic movement have been appeared, such as Sheikh Ali Bahumaysh, and the movement's youth were able at that time to create wide relations outside the scope of the Islamic Center, and among the most prominent figures with whom they coordinated was Brigadier General Hussein Othman Ashal, who became the first army commander in the south after independence, and he is one of the most prominent founders of the Yemeni Islah Party at the level of the south and north, and he had headed the branch of the Islah Party in the Governorate of Abyan until his death in 1993.

Just as the Islah Party in Aden included the comrades of Sheikh al-Bayhani, Tarmoom, Bahumaysh, their students and those affected by their ideas and visions, the branches of the Yemeni Islah Party in the rest of the southern cities and Governorates included scholars, preachers, intellectuals and the elite of society including academics, doctors, engineers, teachers, university students and others. Most of the leaders of the Islah Party in the southern Governorates were national figures who recorded honorable positions in the face of foreign colonialism, tyranny, oppression and totalitarian rule, and made great sacrifices for this.

Islah Party has sought to embody the principles and objectives of the September and October revolutions by working to consolidate the republican system and national independence, as well as combating injustice and corruption, promoting the values of citizenship and equality and adhering to the spirit of the true religion, given them as basic principles, noble values and lofty goals unanimously agreed upon by Yemenis, upon which the revolution, the republican regime and the democratic experiment were based.

The Islah Party members had to confront the remnants of the totalitarian era, its remnants and the remaining of its negative effects that continued to resist the transformations of time and try to undermine democratic practice, pluralism, diversity and respect for opinion and the other opinion. And members of the Islah Party have stood firm in this challenge as in others, and they are aware that the wheel of time is turning and no one can stop it, and that the clockwise direction will not turn back, even if other attempts appear that seek to prevent the desired change from taking place.

With the passage of time, the Islah Party has working hard in the southern and eastern Governorates to assert itself and strengthen its presence in accordance with the political transformations that the country has witnessed. And the more its presence increased, the more its members’ duties multiplied and the greater their required roles in the struggle with the rest of the national forces in order to reform the situation, strengthen the democratic approach, embody the values of freedom and fight corruption in its various forms and manifestations.

When the Islah Party had participated in power as part of its winning entitlements in the first parliamentary elections (House of Representatives elections in 1993), the Islahis of Yemen had registered their presence, which translated their competencies and effectiveness in various state institutions, whether at the level of government or at the level of local authorities in Governorates and Directorates. At that time, a number of Islahi ministers and officials had emerged who presented honorable models in government work, at the forefront was the late Dr. Abdul Rahman Bafadel, who held the position of Minister of Supply and Trade and then Minister of the Fisheries. In both positions, he presented a role model in competence, integrity and the war on corruption. .

Representatives of the Islah Party in the rest of the ministries, governorates, and government institutions were likewise. Islahi officials everywhere faced a large pile of corruption, nepotism, and what is known as the deep state, in addition to encountering major obstacles from counterproductive actions and efforts aimed at obstructing their work and thus distorting their experience, disrupt their performance and prevent the achievement of any significant success that could be counted in their favour. Nevertheless, it was an appreciable experience, especially considering all the obstacles that accompanied their work.

Participation in power... The elections for parliament and local councils is a trustworthy struggle. Millions of voters flocked to vote for Islah's candidates in all Governorates of the Republic, including the southern Governorates. Although the ruling Party made every effort to exclude political forces, exploit the capabilities of the state, the army, the public positions, the official media and the public treasury, the Islah Party - especially in the southern Governorates - was able to obtain a number of seats in parliament that enabled them after that to face the ruling party. Although the ruling party was not able to stop the Islah Party despite the ruling party’s control of the majority of parliament seats, members of the Islah Party in parliament were on the lookout for successive governments, discussing their performance, facing their mistakes and exposing their imbalances.

Once again, the exceptional MP Abdul Rahman Bafadel (compatriot of Hadhramawt) appears as the most prominent voice under the dome of parliament and has been known for confronting corruption and exposing imbalances, as done the compatriot of Aden MP Insaf Mayo, the financial accountant and administrative expert who recorded an honorable presence in the Yemenis’ battle against corruption and tampering deals with public money and state institutions. And from Abyan Governorate, MP Ali Ashal, who deserved an anti-corruption certificate from international institutions, which saw him as a stubborn fighter and parliamentarian worthy of the trust that the people gave him, not only in his constituency, but he became one of the distinguished leaders known for their skill and efficiency.

There are dozens of Islahi representatives from different Governorates of the south who performed their roles to the fullest, although they participated in battles that were already settled, where the competitors have not gotten equal opportunities.

Outside the parliament hall, the Islahis were waging the struggle from their various positions, especially in the local authorities. Even though they knew that the atmosphere was not prepared for them, but rather obstacles were placed in front of them, and their path was fraught with endless obstacles, but they faced these obstacles since the first day in which they participated in power.

After the revolution and the war... The struggle continues

After the outbreak of the popular revolution in 2011, the Islahis went out to the arenas of the revolution and the fields of struggle, embodying the values of the struggle in which they believed, and they worked with all the forces of the revolution and partners in the peaceful struggle to promote these values. The youth of the Islah Party was the best example that embodies its values, principles, commitment and sacrifices. The phrase peaceful struggle was the slogan chosen by the Islah Party before the revolution to confront tyranny and considered it the safe way to extract rights and freedoms.

The Islahis were facing the obstacles and difficulties with more insistence on following the peaceful struggle, strengthening partnership and adopting dialogue as a means to resolve differences with opponents, realizing that the nation and its supreme interest deserve it. The Islah Party was compromising in order to reach common denominators and principles, whether with its opponents or partners. At the Governorate level, foremost of which is Aden, the Islahis had a presence at the center level. The Yemeni Islah Party’s branch in Aden was distinguished in supporting the peaceful struggle and civil and human rights activities, at the forefront of which is the Southern Movement, which was launched in 2007. At the time, the headquarters of the Islah Party in Aden was considered a starting point for a large number of its activities and a forum for its leaders and activists. Likewise in the rest of the southern Governorates, the Islahis remained in the same square that they voluntarily chose, which is the square of peaceful struggle, then the peaceful popular revolution, adhering to dialogue and partnership without exclusion or cancellation.

When the Houthi militia ignited the war after its fateful coup against the state in 2014, and the Houthi death elements began moving from their areas of control in the north of the country and heading towards the south, the Islah Party had an undeniable presence, where the youth of the Islah party - along with other youth of the south - took up their weapons in defense of land and ideology and faced the militias that seized state property and army weapons with individual weapons and self-efforts. For this reason, many of them fell as martyrs in the battle of dignity, and the records of history will remain full of the glory that the heroes achieved in Aden, Abyan and Lahj, as in Al-Dhale’, Shabwa and others. The records of eternity recorded the names of those martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the sake of dignity in defense of their land against the barbaric attack launched by the Houthi terrorist militia, until the valiant resistance crowned with liberation and defeat of the putschists.

After that, the Islah party - in Aden in particular, and in southern Yemen and in Yemen in general - was subjected to smear campaigns that coincided with the liquidation of dozens of its leaders and cadres in order to complete what the Houthi militia had started. These forces use illegal weapons and means to confront the Islah party, just as the Houthis did, but everyone cannot deny the role and presence of the Islah Party or its sacrifices, and they will not be able to abolish and eliminate its presence, no matter how much their funding is, and no matter how much they exaggerate their immorality. And they will fail as the Houthis before them failed.

and the Islah Party bears all of this, realizing that it is paying the price for standing by the nation, the interest of the people and respecting the sovereignty of the state and its institutions.