Country name:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form:
Niue
note:
pronunciation falls between nyu-way and new-way, but not like new-wee
former:
Savage Island
Dependency status:
self-governing in free association with New Zealand since 1974; Niue fully responsible for internal affairs; New Zealand retains responsibility for external affairs and defense; however, these responsibilities confer no rights of control and are only exercised at the request of the Government of Niue
Government type:
self-governing parliamentary democracy
Capital:
name: Alofi
geographic coordinates:
19 01 S, 169 55 W
time difference:
UTC-11 (6 hours behind 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:
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:
several previous (New Zealand colonial statutes); latest 19 October 1974 (Niue Constitution Act 1974); amended 1992, 2007 (2007)
Legal system:
English common law
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
[see also: Suffrage country ranks ]
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 Mark BLUMSKY (since September 2011)
head of government:
Premier Toke TALAGI (since 18 June 2008)
cabinet:
Cabinet consists of the premier and 3 ministers
elections:
the monarchy is hereditary; premier elected by the Legislative Assembly for a three-year term; election last held on 16 May 2011 (next to be held in 2014)
election results:
Toke TALAGI reelected premier in Legislative Assembly vote; Toke TALAGI - 11, Togia SIONEHOLO - 8
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 on 7 May 2011 (next to be held in 2014)
election results:
percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - 20 independents
Judicial branch:
highest court(s): Court of Appeal (consists of the chief justice and up to 3 judges); note - the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (in London) is the final appeal court beyond the Niue Court of Appeal
judge selection and term of office: Niue chief justice appointed by the governor-general on the advice of the Cabinet and tendered by the premier; other judges appointed by the governor-general on the advice of the Cabinet and tendered by the chief justice and the minister of justice; judges serve until age 68
subordinate courts: High Court
Political parties and leaders:
Alliance of Independents or AI
Political pressure groups and leaders:
NA
International organization participation:
ACP, AOSIS, FAO, IFAD, OPCW, PIF, Sparteca, SPC, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WMO
Diplomatic representation in the US:
none (self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand)
Diplomatic representation from the US:
none (self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand)
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 star on a blue disk in the center and a smaller star on each arm of the bold red cross; the larger star stands for Niue, the smaller stars recall the Southern Cross constellation on the New Zealand flag and symbolize links with that country; yellow represents the bright sunshine of Niue and the warmth and friendship between Niue and New Zealand
National anthem:
name: "Ko e Iki he Lagi" (The Lord in Heaven)
lyrics/music:
unknown/unknown, prepared by Sioeli FUSIKATA
note:
adopted 1974
NOTE: 1) The information regarding Niue on this page is re-published from the 2014 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Niue Government 2014 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Niue Government 2014 should be addressed to the CIA.
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order
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This page was last modified 06-Nov-14