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Bahrain is a Constitutional Monarchy (until 2002 Emir ate) with an executive appointed by the king, Shaikh Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa and a Bi-cameral Legislature , with the Chamber Of Deputies elected by universal suffrage, and the Shura Council appointed directly by the king. The head of the government is Prime Minister Khalifa Bin Sulman Al Khalifa and the Crown Prince is Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa , who serves as Commander of the Bahrain Defense Forces. MP Khalifa Al Dhahrani is the Speaker of Parliament. Since he succeeded as head of state in 1999, Sheikh Hamad has initiated wide ranging political reforms scrapping the restrictive state security laws, Giving Women The Right To Vote , freeing all political prisoners and holding parliamentary elections. The reforms are based on the National Action Charter, a package of political changes that was endorsed by the people of Bahrain on February 14 , 2001 , in a popular referendum that saw a 98.4% vote in favour. Among other issues, the referendum paved the way for national elections and for the country to become a constitutional monarchy, changing the country's official name from the State of Bahrain to the Kingdom of Bahrain (a change which took effect in February 2002 ). Parliamentary elections took place on 26 October 2002 with the new legislature, the National Assembly, beginning work the following month. The Islamist Led Opposition boycotted the election it states as a protest against the Bicameral nature of the new parliament, because the appointed upper chamber, the Shura Council, has the ability to veto legislation. Shura members have responded by pointing out that an appointed upper chamber is a feature of long established democracies such as the United Kingdom and Canada . However, the principle behind the Al Wefaq 's boycott - that only elected MPs should have the right to legislate - was undermined when, in response to proposed changes to the family law to give women more rights, Al Wefaq stated that no one except religious leaders has authority to amend the law because MPs could 'misinterpret the word of God'. Democratisation has greatly enhanced clerical influence, through the ability of religious leaders to deliver the votes of their congregations to candidates. Sheikh Abdullah Al Ghraifi, the deputy head of the Islamic Scholars Council, gave a clear warning of the clerics' intent: "We have at our disposition 150,000 votes that we will forward to the MPs, and I hope that they understand this message clearly." {Link without Title} Over the showdown with the government and women's rights activtists on the introduction of stronger legal rights for women, clerics have taken a lead in mobilising the opposition, and threatened to instruct their supporters to vote against MPs that support women's rights. Islamists dominate both the elected lower chamber of parliament and the groups that boycotted the democratic elections. Islamist parties such as the Salafist Asalah , the Shia Islamic Bloc and Muslim Brotherhood affiliated Al Menbar are well represented in parliament, while the Shia Al Wefaq are by far the largest boycotting group. Shia and Sunni Islamists have both criticised the government over the composition of the appointed Shura Council, after it was given a strongly Liberal majority, with Al Meethaq being the biggest group in the chamber. Critics allege that the government is seeking to use the Shura Council as a liberal bullwark to prevent clerical domination of politics. Dominated by Islamist and tribal MPs, liberals have criticised the lower house for trying to impose a restrictive social agenda and curtailing freedoms. Those MPs who do not have an Islamist ideological agenda have been criticised for tending to approach politics not as a way of promoting principles, but as a means of securing government jobs and investment in their constituencies. The only voices that regularly speak in favour of Human Rights and Democratic values in the lower house are the former communists of the Democratic Bloc and the secular Economists Bloc . Anti-government factions state that the five municipal councils elected in councillor in Muharraq discussed how the municipality would enforce a decree that would stipulate that all new buildings be fitted with one-way windows so that residents are unable to see out (after concerns were raised about peeping toms). Dr Al Jowder's explained that the municipality's would enforce the measure by using its control over the electricity supply: "We can't stop someone from building if they do not promise to instal one-way windows. But we can make him put in one-way windows if he wants permission to instal electricity." {Link without Title} In October 2005, Al Wefaq and the former Maoist National Democratic Action agreed to register under the new Political Societies Law, but continue to object to it on the grounds that it prevented parties receiving foreign funding. The move has been widely seen as indicating that the two parties will take part in 2006's general election, particularly as they have faced considerable pressure from party members to participate. In fact once the law came into effect, Al Wefaq reversed its previous opposition and described it as a 'big milestone for Bahrain' . In an effort to revitalise the Left in advance of the September 2006 general election, leading lawyer, Abdullah Hashem launched the National Justice Movement in March 2006. While Bahrain's liberals have sought to use the opening of civil society to campaign against Islamist domination of politics, with a campaign to protect personal freedoms, We Have A Right , led by the civic group, Al Muntada . Bahrain's five governorates are administered by the Minister of State for Municipalities and the Environment in conjunction with each Governorate's Governor. A complex system of courts, based on diverse legal sources, including Sunni and Shi'a Sharia (religious law), tribal law, and other civil codes and regulation, was created with the help of British advisers in the early 20th century. This judiciary administers the legal code and reviews laws to ensure their constitutionality. EXECUTIVE BRANCH
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