Official name:
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Name in local language:
المملكة العربيّة السّعوديّة, transliterated as Al-Mamlakatu al-`Arabiyya as-Sa`ūdiyya
Form of government:
Monarchy
Political system:
Non-parliamentary
- Founding date/ Date of independence: 1932 (the kingdom was unified)
- Date of constitution/reform: 1992 (Basic Law)
- Form of state: Unitary
- Administrative divisions: 13 regions (manatiq idariyya), subdivided into 118 governorates (muhafathat)
- Official language(s): Arabic
- Other spoken languages: English
- Official religion: Wahabi Islam
- Minorities: shi'a community; religions other than Islam are not allowed.
- Dominant actor(s): royal family (as-Saud)
- Elected institutions of government: half of local councils
- Non-elected institutions of government: government, consultative council and governors.
- Party system: political parties are illegal
Current authorities
- Head of state: Salman bin Abdulaziz, king, since January 23rd 2015, succeeding his brother Abdullah.
- Head of government: Salman bin Abdulaziz
- Minister of Foreign Affairs: Prince Saud al Faisal, since 1975
- Minister of Interior: Prince Muhammad bin Nayef,since november 2012
- Head(s) of Legislative Branch: Abdullah ibn Muhammad Al ash-Sheikh
- Head of the Judiciary: Mohammed Al-Eissa
- Schematic representation of the political system: Link to PDF
Links
- Head of State: Website
- Ministry of Interior: Website
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Website
- Arab News: English-language newspaper of wide distribution
- Saudi Gazette: English-language newspaper of wide distribution
- Okaz: Probably the Arabic-language newspaper with the widest distribution
- Al-Watan: Arabic language newspaper with a "liberal" reputation
- Constitution: Saudi Basic Law
