Swaziland is an absolute monarchy. King Mswati III and Queen Mother Ntombi, the king's mother who rules as his co-monarch, have ultimate authority over the cabinet, legislature, and judiciary. There are a parliament consisting of appointed and elected members and a prime minister, but political power remained largely with the king and his traditional advisors. International observers concluded the September parliamentary elections did not meet international standards. Authorities failed at times to maintain effective control over the security forces. Security forces committed human rights...

Zimbabwe is constitutionally a republic. It has been dominated by President Robert Mugabe, his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party, and its authoritarian security sector since independence in 1980. Presidential and parliamentary elections held on July 31 were free of the widespread violence of the 2008 elections, but the process was neither fair nor credible. A unilateral declaration of the election date by the hastily convened and politically compromised Constitutional Court, formed after the country adopted a new constitution in March; a heavily biased state...

Zambia is a constitutional republic governed by a democratically elected president and a unicameral national assembly. International and local observers considered national elections held in 2011 to be generally free and fair. Security forces reported to civilian authorities. Serious human rights abuses occurred during the year. The most important were abuses by security forces, including reports of unlawful killings, torture, and beatings; life-threatening prison conditions; and restrictions on freedom of speech, assembly, and association. Other serious human rights problems included...

Yemen is a republic with a constitution that provides for a president, a parliament, and an independent judiciary. After 33 years in power, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh formally stepped down in February 2012 when Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi, running as the sole consensus candidate, was elected president in a vote generally considered to be free and fair. During the subsequent transition process, implemented through the framework of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)-brokered initiative, elements of the transitional National Consensus Government sought to expand political participation to...

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is an authoritarian state ruled by a single party, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), led by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, and President Truong Tan Sang. The most recent National Assembly elections, held in 2011, were neither free nor fair. Authorities maintained effective control over the security forces. Security forces committed human rights abuses. The most significant human rights problems in the country continued to be severe government restrictions on citizens' political rights, particularly their right to...

Venezuela is formally a multi-party constitutional republic, but in recent years, political power has been concentrated in a single party with an increasingly authoritarian executive exercising significant control over the legislative, judicial, human rights ombudsman, and electoral branches of government. On April 14, authorities announced that Nicolas Maduro had won the presidency by a 1.49 percent margin, amid allegations of pre- and post-election fraud based on a number of irregularities, including government interference, the use of state resources by the ruling party, and voter...

Uzbekistan is an authoritarian state with a constitution that provides for a presidential system with separation of powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch under President Islam Karimov dominated political life and exercised nearly complete control over the other branches of government. In 2007 the country elected President Karimov to a third term in office in polling that, according to the limited observer mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), deprived voters of a genuine choice. Parliamentary elections took...

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK) is a constitutional monarchy with a multiparty, parliamentary form of government. Citizens elect representatives to the House of Commons, the lower chamber of the bicameral Parliament. They last did so in free and fair elections in 2010. Members of the upper chamber, the House of Lords, occupy appointed or hereditary seats. Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, and Bermuda each have elected legislative bodies and devolved administrations, with varying degrees of legislative and executive powers. The UK has 14 overseas territories,...

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven semiautonomous emirates with a resident population of approximately 9.2 million, of whom an estimated 11.5 percent are citizens. The rulers of the seven emirates constitute the Federal Supreme Council, the country's highest legislative and executive body. The council selects a president and a vice president from its membership, and the president appoints the prime minister and cabinet. In 2009 the council selected Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi Emirate, to a second five-year term as president. The emirates are...

Ukraine is a republic with a presidential-parliamentary system of government. The constitution provides for a directly elected president, a unicameral parliament (Verkhovna Rada), and a prime minister appointed by the president and confirmed by parliament. The October 2012 elections for the 450-seat parliament and parliamentary by-elections in December did not meet international standards for fairness or transparency. Authorities maintained effective control over the security forces. Security forces committed human rights abuses. "Berkut" riot police used batons and other forms of physical...