His Majesty the Sultan is the head of state, its highest and final authority and the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. His person is inviolate, respect for him is obligatory and his command must be obeyed. He is the symbol of national unity, which he maintains and upholds.

Article 42 of the Basic Statute of the State defines His Majesty the Sultan's functions, which include maintaining the country's independence and territorial integrity, protecting its internal and external security, safeguarding its citizens' rights and freedoms, upholding the rule of law, directing general state policy taking prompt measures to confront any dangers threatening the Sultanate's security or national integrity or the security of its people, presiding over the Cabinet of Ministers or appointing a person to preside over it, presiding over the specialised councils or appointing persons to preside over them, appointing deputy prime ministers, ministers, under-secretaries, others of their rank and senior judges and relieving them of their positions, declaring states of emergency, general mobilisation and war and concluding peace in accordance with the provisions of the law, promulgating laws, ratifying treaties and international agreements, promulgating the General State Budget and granting pardons for punishments or reducing their severity, as well as other functions. Rulings are issued and carried out in the name of His Majesty the Sultan.

THE CABINET OF MINISTERS, SPECIALISED COUNCILS, COMMITTEES AND AUTHORITIES
The Cabinet of Ministers assists His Majesty the Sultan in drawing up and implementing general state policy According to Article 44 of the Basic Statute of the State, the Cabinet is the body entrusted with the implementation of general state poli-cy; more specifically, it'submits recommendations to the Sultan on economic, political, social, executive and administrative matters that are of concern to the government.


Its responsibilities include proposing draft laws and decrees, looking after citizens' interests, ensuring that citizens are provided with essential services, improving their economic, health and cultural standards, defining general economic, social and administrative development goals and policies, proposing the means and measures required for their implementation in such a way as to ensure good use is made of available financial, economic and human resources, discussing development plans prepared by the competent authorities,


submitting them to the Sultan for approval and following up their implementation, discussing ministries' proposals on carrying


out their functions within their own areas of competence and adopting appropriate recommendations and decisions on them, overseeing the administrative apparatus of state and monitoring its performance of its duties, liaising between government departments and units, and generally overseeing the implementation of laws, decrees, regulations, decisions, treaties, agreements and court rulings in such a manner as to ensure that they are complied with, in addition to any other responsibilities assigned to it by the Sultan or in accordance

with the provisions of the law'.
The Cabinet of Ministers has a Secretariat-General to assist it in carrying out its work and Sayyid Hamoud bin Faisal bin Said is its Secretary-General.
According to Article 53 of the Basic Statute of the State, 'members of the Cabinet of Ministers may not combine their ministerial posts with the chairmanship or membership of any public joint stock company'.>

The Defence Council
The Council, which meets when summoned by His Majesty the Sultan,
examines issues related to the safety, security, well-being and defence of the Sultanate. This is with regard to cases other than the one covered in Article 6 of the Basic Statute of the State - i.e. the position of Sultan falling vacant, when the Defence Council meets with the force of the law under the chairmanship of its highest-ranking member, and with the attendance of at least two thirds of its members, to call a meeting of the Ruling Family Council to decide on the person to whom the succession should pass.

The Financial Affairs and Energy Resources Council
His Majesty Sultan Qaboos heads the Financial Affairs and Energy Resources Council, which is responsible for drawing up the state's fiscal policy and financial and monetary regulations. It also prepares the annual General State Budget, studies financial allocations for development projects, and examines domestic and foreign investment and investment funding and other savings, investment, fiscal and monetary matters.
The Council is also responsible for energy resources. It endeavours to develop them, increase their contribution to the national economy and improve the ways in which they are utilised. The Council meetings are chaired by His Majesty the Sultan or the Deputy Chairman.


The Supreme Judicial Council
responsible for drawing up general judicial policy It safeguards the independence of the judiciary and monitors its development. In pursuance of these aims it is empowered to oversee the work of the courts and the Public Prosecutor's Office, follow up the development of the courts, facilitate litigation and make it easier for litigants to pursue it, and consider candidates submitted by the competent authorities for judicial posts, whether by appointment or through promotion, in those cases in which the law stipulates that the post will be filled by Royal Decree. Its authority also extends to proposing draft laws on the administration of justice, considering any points concerning them that may be raised by the competent authorities and expressing such opinions on them as it sees fit, and expressing opinions on draft judicial co-operation agreements between the Sultanate and other states, in addition to any other matters which His Majesty the Sultan deems fit to put before it so that it can study them and express its opinions on them.

The Civil Service Council
The Civil Service Council draws up general policy on the Civil Service and considers
decisions, laws and other measures aimed at
boosting Omanisation and improving the
efficiency of the state's administrative
apparatus.

The Supreme Committee for Town Planning
This Committee, which was established in
1985, draws up general town planning policies
in the light of the country's development
plans. It is responsible for following up the
implementation and development of approved
planning programmes, devising criteria for
valuing properties which have been
compulsorily purchased for public utilities
under the law, and removing any material or
financial obstacles to the implementation of
plans which have been approved.

Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) Council
The SQU Council is responsible for
maintaining and improving university
academic standards, as well as for ensuring
maximum co-ordination between SQU
graduate numbers and the National
Development Plan's graduate needs.
Tender Board
The Board is assisted by an Executive Secretariat which forms the
active link between the Board and the various
Government authorities that issue tenders via
the Board.
The Board, which usually meets fortnightly,
is responsible for all Government tenders with
the exception of contracts and projects related
to Defence and Security.
The State Financial Audit
The State Financial Audit was established
, as a financially and
administratively independent entity to replace
the Secretariat-General of the State Financial
Audit.
Oman Charitable Organisation
The Oman Charitable Organisation
performs a range of charitable works aimed at
helping those in need at home and abroad.

THE COUNCIL OF OMAN
The Council of Oman consists of two chambers:-
1-The Council of State (Majlis al-Dawla)
On the 4th January 1998, the Council of
State held its first plenary meeting after being
inaugurated by His Majesty. The meeting was
opened by the President. The members
appointed by His Majesty were then sworn in
and a Vice-President elected. The Office of the
Council of State will meet fortnightly and
committees have been formed to examine
legal, social and economic issues. Plenary
sessions of the Council are to be held four
times this year. Members of the Council must
be Omani citizens of at least 40 years of age
with suitable experience stemming from a
government, university, military or business
career. Members of the Council may not hold
any other civil service post nor are they
eligible for membership of the Majlis al-Shura.
Their membership is for a three year term and
may be renewed. His Majesty has stressed
that of the 41 members of the Council at least
four should be women. The Council will offer
seasoned advice to His Majesty and work
closely in co-ordination with the Majlis al-
Shura, thus strengthening Oman's consultative
process and widening participation in the
public life of the Sultanate. The Council of State does not have the same functions as the
Consultative Council. The Government and
the Council of State define the strategy for the
Council of Oman and follow up its
implementation. It then receives studies and
recommendations from the Consultative
Council or from the Oman Chamber of
Commerce and Industry in the case of the
private sector. An important aspect of the
Council's work is to arrange training courses
and workshops on the Basic Statute of the
State and the development of a modern legal
system.

2)The Consultative Council (Majlis al-Shura)
In November 1990, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos announced that a new Consultative Council (Majlis al-Shura) would replace the State Consultative Council (Majlis al-Istishari lil-dawla) which had been formed in 1981. In December 1991, the first Consultative Council was inaugurated with 59 members representing each of the Wilayats.
The State Consultative Council had been a nominated body, but in accordance with the steps being taken towards further political liberalisation each member of the present Consultative Council has been elected with the exception of the President who is appointed by Royal Decree. The two Vice-Presidents are elected by the membership of the Council in a secret ballot.
The term of membership is three years which may be extended. Candidates must have Omani nationality, be not less than thirty years of age, have a good reputation and be reasonably well educated. Once a candidate is selected for membership he or she must give up any other official post.
Because of population increases, the number of members has now been increased to 83. Wilayats with a population of more than 30,000 people formerly elected four candidates from whom two were selected to serve as members of the Council.

In each of the 59 wilayats, lists of voters are prepared by the Wali, who ensures that citizens comply with certain conditions:-- The voter (male or female) must be an Omani by birth, officially certified to be 21 years of age or over.
- He or she must fall within one of the following categories:-
- Shaikh, local dignitary, man of learning, graduate or businessman of standing in his/her wilayat.

An Omani citizen is denied the right to
vote if he or she:-
- is an undischarged bankrupt
- is mentally ill
- has been convicted of a felony
- is a member of the security forces