President: Ali Abdallah Saleh
Ali Abdallah Saleh, Yemen's longest-serving leader in recent times, was re-elected to another seven-year term in September 2006. It was the first time Mr Saleh had faced a serious challenge since coming to power 28 years earlier.
 President Saleh has been in power for more than 30 years |
The opposition cried foul but international monitors said the vote was fair.
Mr Saleh became president of the new republic created by the merger of the two Yemens in 1990. He had led the Yemen Arab Republic - the northern part of present-day Yemen - since 1978 when he came to power in a military coup.
He is backed by the main pillars of power in Yemen, the tribes and the army.
He won the first-ever direct presidential elections in 1999 with more than 96% of the vote. The main opposition party, which was barred from fielding a candidate, described the poll as a sham.
President Saleh's government has cooperated with the US in its "war on terror" and has settled border disputes with its neighbours, Saudi Arabia and Oman.
He joined the army when he was 16 and rose through the ranks to become field marshal.
