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Tokelau Government 2020

SOURCE: 2020 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK AND OTHER SOURCES











Tokelau Government 2020
SOURCE: 2020 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK AND OTHER SOURCES


Page last updated on January 27, 2020

Country name:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Tokelau
former: Union Islands, Tokelau Islands
etymology: "tokelau" is a Polynesian word meaning "north wind"

Dependency status:
self-administering territory of New Zealand; note - Tokelau and New Zealand have agreed to a draft constitution as Tokelau moves toward free association with New Zealand; a UN-sponsored referendum on self governance in October 2007 did not meet the two-thirds majority vote necessary for changing the political status

Government type:
parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy

Capital:
UTC+13 (18 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

Administrative divisions:
none (territory of New Zealand)

Independence:
none (territory of New Zealand)

National holiday:
Waitangi Day (Treaty of Waitangi established British sovereignty over New Zealand), 6 February (1840)

Constitution:
history: many previous; latest effective 1 January 1949 (Tokelau Islands Act 1948)
amendments: proposed as a resolution by the General Fono; passage requires support by each village and approval by the General Fono; amended many times, last in 2007 (2019)

Legal system:
common law system of New Zealand

Citizenship:
see New Zealand

Suffrage:
21 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 Governor General Dame Patricia Lee REDDY (since 28 September 2016); New Zealand is represented by Administrator Jonathan KINGS (since 30 August 2017)
head of government: Afega GAULOFA (since 10 March 2016); note - position rotates annually among the three Faipule (village leaders)
cabinet: Council for the Ongoing Government of Tokelau (or Tokelau Council) functions as a cabinet; consists of 3 Faipule (village leaders) and 3 Pulenuku (village mayors)
elections/appointments: the monarchy is hereditary; governor general appointed by the monarch; administrator appointed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade in New Zealand; head of government chosen from the Council of Faipule to serve a 1-year term
note: the meeting place of the Tokelau Council rotates annually among the three atolls; this tradition has given rise to the somewhat misleading description that the capital rotates yearly between the three atolls; in actuality, it is the seat of the government councilors that rotates since Tokelau has no capital

Legislative branch:
description: unicameral General Fono (20 seats apportioned by island - Atafu 7, Fakaofo 7, Nukunonu 6; members directly elected by simple majority vote to serve 3-year terms); note - the Tokelau Amendment Act of 1996 confers limited legislative power to the General Fono
elections: last held on 23, 27, and 31 January 2017 depending on island (next to be held in 2020)
election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - independent 20; composition - men 17, women 3, percent of women 15%

Judicial branch:
highest courts: Court of Appeal (in New Zealand) (consists of the court president and 8 judges sitting in 3- or 5-judge panels, depending on the case)
judge selection and term of office: judges nominated by the Judicial Selection Committee and approved by three-quarters majority of the Parliament; judges serve for life
subordinate courts: High Court (in New Zealand); Council of Elders or Taupulega

Political parties and leaders:
none

International organization participation:
PIF (associate member), SPC, UNESCO (associate), UPU

Diplomatic representation in the US:
none (territory of New Zealand)

Diplomatic representation from the US:
none (territory of New Zealand)

Flag description:
a yellow stylized Tokelauan canoe on a dark blue field sails toward the manu - the Southern Cross constellation of four, white, five-pointed stars at the hoist side; the Southern Cross represents the role of Christianity in Tokelauan culture and, in conjunction with the canoe, symbolizes the country navigating into the future; the color yellow indicates happiness and peace, and the blue field represents the ocean on which the community relies

National symbol(s):
tuluma (fishing tackle box); national colors: blue, yellow, white

National anthem:
name: "Te Atua" (For the Almighty)
lyrics/music: unknown/Falani KALOLO
note: adopted 2008; in preparation for eventual self governance, Tokelau held a national contest to choose an anthem; as a territory of New Zealand, "God Defend New Zealand" and "God Save the Queen" are official (see New Zealand)


NOTE: 1) The information regarding Tokelau on this page is re-published from the 2020 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Tokelau Government 2020 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Tokelau Government 2020 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may have 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 assigns counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order.






This page was last modified 27-Jan-20
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