Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index According to Swazi law and custom, the monarch holds supreme executive, legislative, and judicial powers. In general practice, however, the monarch's power is delegated through a dualistic system: modern, statutory bodies, like the cabinet, and less formal traditional government structures. At present, parliament consists of a 65-seat House of Assembly (55 members are elected through popular vote; 10 are appointed by the king) and 30-seat Senate (10 members are appointed by the House of Assembly, and 20 are appointed by the king). The king must approve legislation passed by parliament before it becomes law. The prime minister, who is head of government, and the cabinet, which is recommended by the prime minister and approved by the king, exercises executive authority. For local administration Swaziland is divided into four regions, each with an administrator appointed by the king. Parallel to the government structure is the traditional system consisting of the king and his advisers, traditional courts, and 55 Tinkhundla (subregional districts in which traditional chiefs are grouped). Swaziland is a member of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) which the U.S. began negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with in May 2003. The other members of SACU are Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and South Africa. Country name: conventional long form: Kingdom of Swaziland conventional short form: Swaziland Data code: WZ Government type: monarchy; independent member of Commonwealth Capital: Mbabane; Lobamba is the royal and legislative capital Administrative divisions: 4 districts; Hhohho, Lubombo, Manzini, Shiselweni Independence: 6 September 1968 (from UK) National holiday: Somhlolo (Independence) Day, 6 September (1968) Constitution: none; constitution of 6 September 1968 was suspended 12 April 1973; a new constitution was promulgated 13 October 1978, but was not formally presented to the people; since then a few more outlines for a constitution have been compiled under the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC), but so far none have been accepted Legal system: based on South African Roman-Dutch law in statutory courts and Swazi traditional law and custom in traditional courts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction Suffrage: NA years of age Executive branch: chief of state: King MSWATI III (since 25 April 1986) head of government: Prime Minister Sibusiso Barnabas DLAMINI (since 9 August 1996) cabinet: Cabinet recommended by the prime minister and confirmed by the monarch elections:none; the monarch is hereditary; prime minister appointed by the monarch Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament or Libandla, an advisory body, consists of the Senate (30 seats - 10 appointed by the House of Assembly and 20 appointed by the monarch; members serve five-year terms) and the House of Assembly (65 seats - 10 appointed by the monarch and 55 elected by popular vote; members serve five-year terms) elections: House of Assembly - last held 16 and 24 October 1998 (next to be held NA 2003) election results: House of Assembly - balloting is done on a nonparty basis; candidates for election are nominated by the local council of each constituency and for each constituency the three candidates with the most votes in the first round of voting are narrowed to a single winner by a second round Judicial branch: High Court, judges are appointed by the monarch; Court of Appeal, judges are appointed by the monarch Political parties and leaders: political parties are banned by the constitution - the following are considered political associations - Imbokodvo National Movement or INM (leader NA); Ngwane National Liberatory Congress or NNLC (Obed DLAMINI, president); People's United Democratic Movement or PUDEMO (Mario MASUKU, president); Swaziland National Front or SWANAFRO (Elmond SHONGWE, president) note: political parties are banned by the constitution promulgated on 13 October 1978; illegal parties are prohibited from holding large public gatherings International organization participation: ACP, AfDB, C, ECA, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, ISO (correspondent), ITU, NAM, OAU, OPCW, PCA, SACU, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO Flag description: three horizontal bands of blue (top), red (triple width), and blue; the red band is edged in yellow; centered in the red band is a large black and white shield covering two spears and a staff decorated with feather tassels, all placed horizontally See also : Swaziland This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.