The hereditary monarch holds extensive executive authority, including the exclusive right to change the government, and there are no constitutional provisions allowing citizens to alter this system. The current prince, Albert II, took the throne after his father’s death in 2005.

The head of government, known as the minister of state, is traditionally appointed by the monarch from a candidate list of three French nationals submitted by the French government. Pierre Dartout took office as minister of state in 2020.

The 24 members of the unicameral National Council are elected for five-year terms; the 16 candidates who receive the most votes are elected, and the remaining 8 seats are filled through list-based proportional representation.

The February 2023 elections were considered credible by international observers. The UNM won 89.6 percent of the vote and every parliamentary seat. It was opposed by a newly formed list, the center-left New Ideas for Monaco (NIM), which obtained 10.6 percent of the vote and no seats. Turnout was relatively low at 57 percent; the 2018 polls yielded a turnout of 70 percent. Brigitte Boccone-Pagès returned as president of the National Council, which is regarded as the most powerful elected office in Monaco. She is the first woman to hold the office.

The legal framework provides an adequate basis for credible elections, and a number of recent changes have improved the conduct of elections, including the modification of campaign finance rules in 2017, the broadening of suffrage rights for detainees in 2014, and the simplification of proxy voting in 2020.

Municipal authorities, led by the mayor of Monaco, form an Electoral Committee that administers elections with support from the Interior Ministry, and observers consider their conduct to be credible. However, technical meetings in preparation for elections are not open to the public, limiting the committee’s transparency.

Political associations, groupings of people who hold similar political viewpoints, compete in Monaco, rather than traditional parties. There are no undue restrictions on the formation of new political associations. However, office seekers are prohibited from running as individual independent candidates; independents must instead form a list of at least 13 candidates to participate in elections.

Opposition political associations are able to gain seats in the parliament. However, there are structural limits on the ability of political groupings to secure executive power through elections, as the cabinet—appointed by the prince—is not responsible to the elected parliament.

In the February 2023 elections, one list, the UNM, won all 24 parliamentary seats, leaving none for a parliamentary opposition. The UNM is the result of a late-2022 merger of the three lists that had obtained seats in the 2018 elections.

Score Change: The score declined from 2 to 1 because only one electoral list won parliamentary representation in the February general election, leaving no opposition group in Monaco’s legislature.

The fact that the head of government is a French national appointed from a list submitted by Paris, and that the powerful head of state is an unelected monarch, means that people’s political participation is heavily circumscribed by democratically unaccountable forces. Nevertheless, voters’ and candidates’ choices with respect to parliamentary representation are largely free from domination by such entities.

Only about 9,000 of Monaco’s residents—roughly a quarter of the total—are citizens, and noncitizens do not have the right to vote or run for office, though a number of legal routes to naturalization are available. Most noncitizen residents are nationals of neighboring France or Italy.

Among the citizen population, women and members of racial or ethnic minority groups are free to participate in elections, both as voters and candidates, but women’s interests are not always well represented in the political system. The number of women in the parliament increased from 8 to 11 after the February 2023 elections, and the 6-member council of ministers includes 2 women.

The hereditary prince has significant governing authority, including the exclusive power to initiate legislation, conduct foreign policy, and approve changes to the constitution. However, all legislation and the budget require parliamentary approval, and the parliament is generally free from interference by unelected groups.

There have been a series of recent improvements in the legal framework for combating corruption. Rules on accepting gifts and potential conflicts of interest were included in the parliamentary rules of procedure that took effect in 2021. However, a March 2023 report from the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), a CoE anticorruption body, noted that Monégasque parliamentarians were still not required to publicly declare their assets. In June, the government gazetted a new sovereign ordinance meant to strengthen the anticorruption framework and address GRECO recommendations on ethics and asset declarations.

The Monégasque government had adopted two laws to improve the framework against money laundering, corruption, and the sponsoring of terrorism in 2022. A December 2022 assessment of Monaco, published in January 2023 by the CoE’s Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL), nevertheless pointed to significant shortcomings in Monaco’s efforts to combat money laundering. In July, the government gazetted Law 1.549, which amended existing legislation in order to address money laundering, terrorist financing, and corruption. Finance Minister Jean Castellini resigned in September, being succeeded by Marco Piccinini.

High-level corruption remains a problem, and officials sometimes act with impunity. Corruption allegations published in the 2021 Dossiers du Rocher implicated some members of the prince’s inner circle and resulted in the resignations of Laurent Anselmi, the prince’s chief of staff, and Claude Palmero, his manager of assets, in June 2023. In July, Palmero sued the prince, demanding his reinstatement and €1 million ($1.1 million) in compensation. The Supreme Court rejected Palmero’s suit in September.

Score Change: The score declined from 3 to 2 because several high-level officials with close ties to the prince were implicated in corruption in recent years and because of persistent shortcomings in the Monégasque anticorruption framework.

The law generally provides for public access to government information, including draft laws and proposed legislation. Parliamentarians are bound by rules of procedure and are subject to scrutiny from the ethics adviser, who is empowered to investigate conflict-of-interest and asset-declaration concerns. The rules of procedure also require the publication of legislative committee agendas and written opinions, and the National Council’s website hosts legislation, proposals, and amendments which enhances public access to such material.

The constitution provides for freedom of expression, and press freedom is generally respected in practice. Monaco has a weekly government newspaper, an English-language monthly, and several online publications. There is one major private broadcaster based in the country. However, French and Italian broadcast and print media are widely available, and internet access is not restricted.

In their report on the February 2023 elections, observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) noted that local media outlets were highly dependent on state financing and that progovernment coverage predominated during the campaign.

Roman Catholicism is the official state religion, but the constitution guarantees freedom of religion and public worship, and this is largely respected in practice. In late 2022, the government officially recognized the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

There are no undue restrictions on academic freedom.

People are generally free to express their personal views without fear of retribution. Insulting the ruling family is illegal and can result in prison sentences of up to five years, but the law is infrequently enforced.

The constitution provides for freedom of assembly, which is generally respected in practice.

No significant restrictions are imposed on the formation or operation of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

The law grants workers the right to establish unions and bargain collectively, and antiunion discrimination is prohibited. All workers except government employees have the right to strike. Unions and employers engage in collective bargaining in practice.

The constitution provides for an independent judiciary. The prince names five full members and two judicial assistants to the Supreme Court based on nominations by the National Council, government bodies, and the lower courts. The recruitment process for judges lacks transparency, which contributes to a perception that they may lack independence.

The Judicial Service Commission (CSJ) is responsible for ensuring the independence of the judiciary. While the CSJ’s autonomy was recently strengthened, only some of its members are selected by their peers. CSJ activity reports are not publicly available. The state secretary for justice, formerly known as the director of judicial services, oversees the judicial and law enforcement systems and is responsible only to the prince. Approximately half of the judges in Monaco are Monégasque nationals, and the other half are French nationals.

Concerns about judicial independence resurfaced in 2019, when the director of judicial services turned down a request for a three-year term renewal from the judge overseeing the investigation into the Rybolovlev affair. That scandal erupted in 2017 after then justice minister Philippe Narmino was implicated in influence peddling to the benefit of Russian businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev, who was pursuing a major lawsuit against an art collector. The director was replaced later that year.

Due process rights are generally respected. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty and are informed of the charges against them promptly. Defendants have access to attorneys and sufficient time to prepare a defense. A 2021 report by the CoE’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment criticized the relatively poor conditions of the Remand Prison and the size of court waiting cells, though the body reported that prisoners were generally well treated.

The population faces no major threats to physical security. Violent crime and excessive use of force by police are both rare in Monaco.

Monaco lacks a law that broadly prohibits discrimination based on race or ethnicity, though insults and defamation on such grounds are illegal. In the absence of a comprehensive law, Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is used to prevent and punish discrimination.

The law prohibits discrimination based on gender, and women’s rights are generally respected. However, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) has noted that women do not enjoy the same rights to social benefits as their male counterparts, as men receive head-of-household status by default, and has called for the establishment of a program guaranteeing the equal treatment of LGBT+ people.

A 2021 law provides legal status to non-Monégasques who were born or adopted in Monaco and have since resided in the country. Individuals in the “Children of the Nation” category, who were previously regarded as foreigners, effectively receive expanded access to housing and employment under this legislation.

There are no significant restrictions on freedom of internal movement or foreign travel.

Property rights are respected, and noncitizens holding a residence permit may purchase property and establish businesses. However, obtaining government approval to start a business is often a lengthy and complex process, and related costs can be prohibitively expensive.

Personal social freedoms are generally respected. Abortion remains illegal except under special circumstances, including rape and a risk to life or physical health. Criminal punishments for people who undergo abortions were rescinded in 2019, though health professionals could still face penalties for performing an abortion in Monaco.

Also in 2019, the parliament adopted a law allowing civil partnerships for all couples, including those of the same sex. Domestic violence is outlawed in Monaco, and there are few reported incidents. The government and NGOs provide a network of support services for victims of domestic violence.

Legal protections against labor exploitation are adequately enforced.