Official name

The Comorian Union

Form of state

Federal Islamic republic

Legal system

Based on the Napoleonic code and sharia (Islamic law), the constitution was approved in outline by referendum in late 2001

National legislature

Each of the three islands, Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli, has an individual parliament, with different numbers of seats, which are elected directly; the Union has a legislative assembly with 33 members: 24 members of parliament are elected by direct universal suffrage and nine are appointed by the three islands

Head of state

President

National government

Ahmed Abdallah Sambi won the May 2006 presidential election with 58% of the vote; this was the first time that the presidency had been revolved between citizens of different islands, as laid out in the 2000 Fomboni Accord

National elections

Elections for Union president and the governors of the three islands were held simultaneously in late 2010; the first round of voting took place in November and the second round in December; the results have been confirmed by the country's Constitutional Court; the transfer of power to the president-elect is to take place before May 26th 2011; legislative elections took place in December 2009

Main political parties

Comoros has a weak party structure; the political landscape consists of a large number of parties, mainly based on personal loyalties; political alliances are, similarly, typically geared towards supporting a particular leader; the winner of the 2006 presidential election, Mr Sambi, was a founder of the Front national de la justice, an Islamist party; he is now supported by a grouping of parties called the Baobab coalition; the Baobab coalition also secured 19 out of 24 seats in the 2009 election to the Union parliament

Union government

Union president: Ahmed Abdallah Sambi

President-: lect Ikililou Dhoinine

Vice-president in charge of agriculture, fisheries, environment, energy & handicrafts: Idi Nadhoim

Key ministers

Defence, interior & information: Ibrahima Houmadi Sidi

Education, research, culture & the arts: Fouad Ben Mohadji

Elections: Abdourahamane Ben Cheikh Achiraf

External relations & co-operation: Fahmi Said Ibrahim

Finance, budget & investment: Mohamed Bacar Dossar

Health, solidarity & gender promotion: Sounhadj Attouman

Industry, labour, employment & women's entrepreneurship: Moussa Abderemane

Justice, prisons & Islamic affairs: Mohamed Ahmed Djaffar Mansoib

Posts & telecommunications: Houdhoer Inzoudine

Public service, administrative reform, institutional decentralisation & human rights: Djazila Saindou

Governors of the islands

Anjouan (Nzwani): Anissi Chamisidine

Grande Comore (Ngazidja): Mouigni Baraka Said Soilihi

Mohéli (Mwali): Mohamed Ali Said

Central Bank governor

Vacant