Long-form name: Republic of Nicaragua

Type: republic

Capital: Managua

Administrative divisions: 16 departments (departamentos, singular--departamento); Boaco, Carazo, Chinandega, Chontales, Esteli, Granada, Jinotega, Leon, Madriz, Managua, Masaya, Matagalpa, Nueva Segovia, Rio San Juan, Rivas, Zelaya

Independence: 15 September 1821 (from Spain)

Constitution: January 1987

National holiday: Independence Day, 15 September (1821)

Branches: executive and administrative responsibility formally reside in the president, vice president, and Cabinet; in reality, the nine-member National Directorate of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) shares power with and dominates the executive; National Assembly was elected in November 1984 and inaugurated in January 1985; the country's highest judicial authority is the Sandinista-appointed Supreme Court, composed of seven members

Leaders: @m5Chief of State and Head of Government--President Cdte. (Jose) Daniel ORTEGA Saavedra (since 10 January 1985); Vice President Sergio RAMIREZ Mercado (since 10 January 1985)

Suffrage: universal at age 16

Elections: national elections were held on 4 November 1984 for president and vice president (elected for a six-year term), and a 96-member National Assembly

Political parties and leaders: Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) is the ruling party and dominates political life; the FSLN has 61 seats in the National Assembly; the government prohibited most political activities by opposition parties under the state of emergency in March 1982, expanded the emergency decree in October 1985, and reimposed the state of emergency in January 1987; state of emergency lifted January 1988 in compliance with Central American peace plan, but laws regulating political party activity remain in effect; main opposition parties boycotted the November 1984 election on the grounds that the regime had not provided them with sufficient political guarantees; democratic opposition parties are highly fragmented and include Social Democratic Party (PSD), Guillermo Potoy; Social Christian Party (PSC) split into factions led by Erick Ramirez and Agustin Jarquin; Democratic Conservative Party of Nicaragua (PCDN), split into factions--the most influential leaders are Mario Rappaccioli and Myriam Arguello; Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC), Jose Ernesto Somarriba; Independent Liberal Party (PLI) split into factions led by Virgilio Godoy and Eduardo Coronado; Popular Social Christian Party (PPSC), Mauricio Diaz; and Democratic Conservative Party (PCD), split into factions led by Clemente Guido and Enrique Sotelo Borgen; the PSD, PSC, PCN and PLC, as well as opposition business and union organizations, form the Democratic Coordinating Board (CDN) with Carlos Huembes as president; the PPSC and PLI were allied with the FSLN in the Patriotic Front of the Revolution (FPR) until early 1984 but fielded their own candidates in the election; pro-FSLN faction of the PCD has 14 seats in the National Assembly, the PLI nine seats, and the PPSC six seats; two additional relatively obscure parties, the Central American Unionist Party (PUCA) and the Revolutionary Party of the Workers (PRT), were founded in late 1984; a third obscure party, the Liberal Party (PALI), was founded in 1986 and joined the CDN in 1988

Communists: the Nicaraguan Socialist Party (PSN), Gustavo Tablada, founded in 1944, has served as Nicaragua's Moscow-line Communist party; the Communist Party of Nicaragua (PCdeN), Eli Altamirano Perez, is an ultraleft breakaway faction from the PSN; and the Popular Action Movement--Marxist-Leninist (MAP-ML), Isidro Tellez; only the PSN was a member of the FPR alliance with the FSLN, but all three have supported the revolution; the PCdeN and MAP-ML have criticized the Sandinistas for moving too slowly toward consolidation of a Marxist-Leninist regime; each of the three Communist parties has two seats in the National Assembly

Other political or pressure groups: the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP) is an umbrella group of 11 different business groups, including the Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Industry, and the Nicaraguan Development Institute (INDE)

Member of: CACM, CEMA (observer), FAO, G-77, GATT, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IDB--Inter-American Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, IRC, ISO, ITU, NAM, OAS, ODECA, PAHO, SELA, UN, UNESCO, UPEB, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation: Charge d'Affaires Leonor de HUPER; Chancery at 1627 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington DC 20009; telephone (202) 387-4371 or 4372; US--Charge d'Affaires John P. LEONARD; Embassy at Kilometer 4.5 Carretera Sur, Managua (mailing address is APO Miami 34021); telephone �505� (2) 66010 or 66013, 66015 through 66018, 66026, 66027, 66032 through 66034; note--Nicaragua expelled the US Ambassador on 11 July 1988, and the US expelled the Nicaraguan Ambassador on 12 July 1988

Flag: three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), white, and blue with the national coat of arms centered in the white band; the coat of arms features a triangle encircled by the words @m5REPUBLICA DE NICARAGUA on the top and @m5AMERICA CENTRAL on the bottom; similar to the flag of El Salvador which features a round emblem encircled by the words @m5REPUBLICA DE EL SALVADOR EN LA AMERICA CENTRAL centered in the white band; also similar to the flag of Honduras, which has five blue stars arranged in an @m5X pattern centered in the white band

NOTE: The information regarding Nicaragua on this page is re-published from the 1989 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Nicaragua Government 1989 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Nicaragua Government 1989 should be addressed to the CIA.