The Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt issued on September 11, 1971 and amended on May 22, 1980, May 25, 2005 and March, 2007 regulates the political system of the State and the specifications of the public authorities. The Constitution states that Arabic is the official language and principles of Islamic law (Shari'a) are the principal source of legislation.

The Arab Republic of Egypt is a democratic state based on citizenship as stipulated in Article (1). The Egyptian people are part of the Arab nation and work for the realization of its comprehensive unity. The political system of the Arab Republic of Egypt includes: legislative, judicial and executive authorities in addition to the Media, political parties, local administration and NGO's.

The Egyptian constitution provides for a strong executive. Authority is vested in an elected president who can appoint one or more vice presidents, a prime minister, and a cabinet. The president's term runs for 6 years. Egypt's legislative body, the People's Assembly, has 454 members--444 popularly elected and 10 appointed by the president. The constitution reserves 50% of the assembly seats for "workers and peasants." The assembly sits for a 5-year term but can be dissolved earlier by the President. There also is a 264-member Shura (consultative) Council, in which 88 members are appointed and 174 elected for 6-year terms. Below the national level, authority is exercised by and through governors and mayors appointed by the central government and by popularly elected local councils.

Opposition party organizations make their views public and represent their followers at various levels in the political system, but power is concentrated in the hands of the President and the National Democratic Party majority in the People's Assembly and those institutions dominate the political system. In addition to the ruling National Democratic Party, there are 18 other legally recognized parties.