| Country name | conventional long form: none conventional short form: Niue former: Savage Island |
|
| Government type | self-governing parliamentary democracy |
|
| Capital | name: Alofi geographic coordinates: 19 01 S, 169 55 W time difference: UTC+12 (17 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
|
| Administrative divisions | none; note - there are no first-order administrative divisions as defined by the US Government, but there are 14 villages at the second order |
|
| Independence | on 19 October 1974, Niue became a self-governing parliamentary government in free association with New Zealand |
|
| National holiday | Waitangi Day (Treaty of Waitangi established British sovereignty over New Zealand), 6 February (1840) |
|
| Constitution | 19 October 1974 (Niue Constitution Act) |
|
| Legal system | English common law; note - Niue is self-governing, with the power to make its own laws |
|
| Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal |
|
| Executive branch | chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952); represented by Governor General of New Zealand Anand SATYANAND (since 23 August 2006); the UK and New Zealand are represented by New Zealand High Commissioner John BRYAN (since May 2000) head of government: Premier Young VIVIAN (since 1 May 2002) cabinet: Cabinet consists of the premier and three ministers elections: the monarch is hereditary; premier elected by the Legislative Assembly for a three-year term; election last held 12 May 2005 (next to be held in May 2008) election results: Young VIVIAN reelected premier; percent of Legislative Assembly vote - Young VIVIAN 85%, O'Love JACOBSEN 15% |
|
| Legislative branch | unicameral Legislative Assembly (20 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve three-year terms; six elected from a common roll and 14 are village representatives) elections: last held 30 April 2005 (next to be held in April 2008) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA |
|
| Judicial branch | Supreme Court of New Zealand; High Court of Niue |
|
Political parties and leaders | Alliance of Independents or AI; Niue People's Action Party or NPP [Young VIVIAN] |
|
Political pressure groups and leaders | NA |
|
International organization participation | ACP, FAO, IFAD, OPCW, PIF, Sparteca, SPC, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WMO |
|
| Flag description | yellow with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant; the flag of the UK bears five yellow five-pointed stars - a large one on a blue disk in the center and a smaller one on each arm of the bold red cross |
|