Saleh in power from 1978
President is highest ranking military officer
Dubai: Ali Abdullah Saleh was born into a peasant family on March 21, 1942, in Bait Al Ahmar, a village in the governorate of Sana'a, southeast of the nation's capital. He has been in power since 1978.
In 1958, Saleh joined the Yemeni military and from 1962, fought as a tank crewman on the side of the Republicans against the Imamate in the eight-year civil war following the 1962 revolution.
He was promoted by his tribal leaders in 1977 when the president of North Yemen, Ahmad Al Gashmi, appointed him military governor of Taiz. Saleh was appointed deputy of the general staff commander in 1978, after the President's assassination. On July 17, 1978, Saleh was elected by the Parliament as the President of the republic, chief of staff and commander in chief of the armed forces.
He was elected secretary general of the General People's Congress (GPC) party on August 30, 1982 and re-elected president of the Yemen Arab Republic in 1983.
The demise of the Soviet Union weakened the status of South Yemen, and in 1990 the North and South agreed to unify after years of negotiations. The South accepted Saleh as head of state, while Ali Salim Al Beidh served as vice-president and a member of the Presidential Council.
Also in December 1997, parliament approved his promotion to field marshal after he restored a Yemeni Island from Eritrea through diplomatic means. Saleh now is the highest ranking military officer in Yemen.
After the reunification of Yemen on May 22, 1990, the north and south agreed to divide the ministries equally, to have a multiple party system and to hold a parliamentary election in three years. The election in 1993 resulted in a victory for the GPC.
Directly elected
Saleh became Yemen's first directly elected president in the 1999 presidential election, winning 91.2 per cent of the vote.
Parliament then passed a law extending presidential terms from five to seven years and parliamentary terms from four to six years. Saleh said in 2002 he would not run for election again.
However in 2006 Saleh accepted his party's nomination as GPC presidential candidate and on September 20, Saleh won another term.
Saleh has vowed to step down when his term ends in 2013 and not hand power to his son.
