Official name

Republic of Sudan

Legal system

Sharia (Islamic law) applies in both civil and criminal cases in the north-although there are some special provisions for non-Muslims. The south has a non-Islamic legal system

National legislature

Sudan has a bicameral parliament with a 450-member National Assembly (with 60% of seats elected by majority voting in geographical constituencies and 40% by proportional representation, including 25% reserved for women), together with a Council of States composed of two representatives elected by each state assembly

National elections

April 2010 (presidential and parliamentary)

Head of state

Omar al-Bashir, who took office following a 1989 coup and was sworn in as president in October 1993, was most recently re-elected in April 2010

National government

The government is a coalition between the National Congress Party (NCP) and its former adversary in the north-south civil war, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), with a few minor parties such as the Eastern Front also represented

Main political parties

The main northern opposition parties include the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the Umma Party and the Popular Congress Party (PCP). In Darfur the main political-military groups are the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the fragmented Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM)

The presidency

President: Omar al-Bashir (NCP)

First vice-president: Salva Kiir (SPLM)

Second vice-president: Ali Uthman Mohammed Taha (NCP)

Assistants to the president:

;Nafie Ali Nafie (NCP)

;Musa Mohammed Ahmed (EF)

Key ministers

Agriculture: Abdul-Halim Ismail al-Muaafi (NCP)

Cabinet affairs: Luka Biong (SPLM)

Communications & IT: Yahia Abdalla Mohammed Hamad (NCP)

Defence: Abdel-Rahim Mohammed Hussein (NCP)

Education: Farah Mustafa Abdalla (NCP)

Electricity & dams: Osama Abdullah Mohammed al-Hassan (NCP)

Finance & national economy: Ali Mahmoud Abdul-Rasool (NCP)

Foreign affairs: Ali Ahmed Karti (NCP)

Foreign trade: Elias Neyama Lel (SPLM)

Health: Abdalla Tiya Gumaa (NCP)

Industry: Awad Ahmed al-Jaz (NCP)

Interior: Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamed (NCP)

Investment: George Bioring (SPLM)

Irrigation & water resources: Kamal Ali Mohammed (NCP)

Justice: Mohamed Bushara Dosa (NCP)

Labour: Dak Dok Bichok (SPLM)

Minerals: Abdul-Bagi al-Jailani (NCP)

Oil: Lual Achuil Deng (SPLM)

Social welfare & insurance: Amira al-Fadil Mohammed al-Fadil (NCP)

Transport: Chol Ram Pang (SPLM)

Central bank governor

Mohammed Khair al-Zubair