Concerns about the democratic credentials of Islamist political movements have long existed. Whether, and to what extent, Islamists have genuinely embraced notions of democracy, human rights, toleration of minorities and political pluralism have been sources of concern to a range of actors from the national to the international levels for many years. These concerns have been given renewed vigour in the aftermath of the events of 2011 in the Arab world as Islamist movements have seized the opportunities created by recent political openings across the region. Such concerns have particular resonance in the case of Yemen’s Islah party. The departure of long term president Saleh, the subsequent transfer of political power to his deputy and the installation of a government of national unity paved the way for the entry into government of Yemen’s largest opposition party, Islah. Islah, as originally established, brought together a number of strands in Yemeni Islamism from Salafi to the Muslim Brotherhood. The party had a close relationship with the ruling General People’s Congress and served in government with it in the 1990s. However, in recent years the party has espoused the discourse and practice of multiparty democracy and human rights. It has entered into coalition with a number of other opposition parties in Yemen, including the Yemen Socialist party and it is as part of this coalition that Islah has now re-entered government. This paper will explore the ideological and political shifts undergone by Islah in the past two decades. It will investigate the motivations for its democratic reorientation and will critically examine both the understanding of the concepts of democracy and human rights advocated by the party and the impact of their adoption on the political practice of the party. Finally, the paper will examine the relationship between the party and other political actors in Yemen, both inside and outside the formal political system in the context of its return to office. The paper will be based, in part, on primary research to be conducted in Yemen in the late Spring of 2012.