Legal system: English common law
Suffrage: 21 years of age; universal
Executive branch: chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II of the UK (since 6 February 1952), represented by Governor General Moses PITAKAKA (since 10 June 1994) head of government: Prime Minister Bartholomew ULUFA'ALU (since 27 August 1997); Deputy Prime Minister Sir Baddeley DEVESI (since 27 August 1997) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister from among the members of Parliament elections: none; the queen is a hereditary monarch; governor general appointed by the queen on the advice of Parliament for up to five years; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of a majority coalition is usually elected prime minister by Parliament; deputy prime minister appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister from among the members of Parliament
Legislative branch: unicameral National Parliament (50 seats; members elected from single member constituencies by popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: last held 6 August 1997 (next to be held by August 2001) election results: percent of vote by party-NA; seats by party-GNUR 21, PAP 7, NAPSI 5, SILP 4, UP 4, independents 6, other 3
Judicial branch: Court of Appeal
Political parties and leaders: characterized by fluid coalitions;
Liberal Party, Bartholomew ULUFA'ALU; Solomon Islands National Unity,
Reconciliation, and Progressive Party (SINURP), Danny PHILIP (leader
of opposition); People's Alliance Party (PAP), leader NA; Group for
National Unity and Reconciliation (GNUR), leader NA; National Action
Party of Solomon Islands (NAPSI), leader NA; Solomon Islands Labor
Party (SILP), leader NA; United Party (UP), leader NA; Nationalist
Front for Progress (NFP), Andrew NORI; Labor Party (LP), Joses
TUHANUKU; Christian Fellowship, leader NA; National Party, leader NA
International organization participation: ACP, AsDB, C, ESCAP, FAO,
G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat
(nonsignatory user), IOC, ITU, Sparteca, SPC, SPF, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO,
UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO, WTrO
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Stephen Rex HOROI (represents the country as both the Permanent Representative to the UN and the ambassador to the US) chancery: Permanent Mission of the Solomon Islands to the UN, 820 Second Avenue, Suite 800, New York, NY 10017 telephone: [1] (212) 599-6193
Diplomatic representation from the US: the US does not have an embassy in Solomon Islands (embassy closed July 1993); the ambassador to Papua New Guinea is accredited to the Solomon Islands
Flag description: divided diagonally by a thin yellow stripe from the lower hoist-side corner; the upper triangle (hoist side) is blue with five white five-pointed stars arranged in an X pattern; the lower triangle is green