Premier (Arab Union)

The Premier (Arabic: رئيس وزراء الجمهورية ra’īs wuzrā’ al-jumhūriyah) is the official title of the head of government of a member republic of the Arab Union. The Premier leads the Council of Ministers, the highest executive body of a republic, and is elected by the republic's legislature (a unicameral assembly called a Republican Congress). According to the constitution, the President of the Arab Union is simultaneously head of state of each republic and the federation as a whole, and has the power to dissolve a republican Council of Ministers and remove its Premier via executive order.

The Premier is always the secretary or chairperson of the political party holding a majority of seats in the Republican Congress. In 16 of 20 republics, the respective regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party forms government; in Yemen, Libya and Tunisia, however, the Communist Party holds a majority of seats in the Republican Congress and forms the executive government, while the Arab Social-Democratic Party forms the republican government of Morocco.

"Premier" is also the title used for the head of government of an organised territory of the Arab Union (organised meaning that the territory has its own territorial government with devolved authority from the Arab Union federal government), although the Arabic translation is slightly different (رئيس وزراء التبعية ra’īs wuzrā’ at-taba‘ayah). Premiers of organised territories are elected indirectly by the voting citizens of their territory, in that the party or coalition holding the most seats in the Territorial Congress (the unicameral assembly of the organised territory) nominates its leader as premier, who is always confirmed by the President of the Arab Union. Unorganised territories (territories which have no government of their own), on the other hand, are administered by a "governor" (حافظ التبعية ḥāfiẓ at-taba‘ayah), who is appointed by the President to represent the federal government within the unorganised territory.