National holiday:
Independence Day, 20 March (1956)
Constitution:
1 June 1959; amended 12 July 1988
Legal system:
based on French civil law system and Islamic law; some judicial
review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court in joint session
Suffrage:
20 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Zine El Abidine BEN ALI (since 7 November
1987)
head of government: Prime Minister Mohamed GHANNOUCHI (since 17
November 1999)
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president
elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term;
election last held 24 October 1999 (next to be held NA 2004); prime
minister appointed by the president
election results: President Zine El Abidine BEN ALI reelected for a
third term without opposition; percent of vote - Zine El Abidine BEN
ALI nearly 100%
Legislative branch:
unicameral Chamber of Deputies or Majlis al-Nuwaab (182 seats;
members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: last held 24 October 1999 (next to be held NA 2004)
election results: percent of vote by party - RCD 92%; seats by party
- RCD 148, MDS 13, UDU 7, PUP 7, Al-Tajdid 5, PSL 2; note - reforms
enabled opposition parties to win up to 20% of seats, increasing the
number of seats they hold from 19 in the last election to 34 now
Judicial branch:
Court of Cassation or Cour de Cassation
Political parties and leaders:
Al-Tajdid Movement [Adel CHAOUCH]; Constitutional Democratic Rally
Party (Rassemblement Constitutionnel Democratique) or RCD [President
Zine El Abidine BEN ALI (official ruling party)]; Liberal Social
Party or PSL [Mounir BEJI]; Movement of Democratic Socialists or MDS
[Khamis CHAMMARI]; Popular Unity Party or PUP [Mohamed Belhaj AMOR];
Unionist Democratic Union or UDU [Abderrahmane TLILI]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
the Islamic fundamentalist party, Al Nahda (Renaissance), is
outlawed
International organization participation:
ABEDA, ACCT, AfDB, AFESD, AL, AMF, AMU, BSEC (observer), ECA, FAO,
G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC,
IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MIPONUH,
MONUC, NAM, OAPEC, OAS (observer), OAU, OIC, OPCW, OSCE (partner),
UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UPU, WCO,
WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO