NEW ZEALAND Official name: New Zealand / Aotearoa Location: Pacific International organisations: The Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum, The Commonwealth of Nations, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, The Pacific Islands Forum, The United Nations, The World Trade Organisation Borders: None Coastline: Pacific Ocean, Tasman Sea Land area: 268,680 Km2 Population: 3,900,000 Ethnicity: About 80% of New Zealanders are of European (predominantly British) descent. The Maori, a Polynesian people, are 10% of the population. Pacific Islander 3.8%, Asian and others 7%. Languages: England and Maori are the official languages, but only 2% speak Maori as their first language. English is the language of government, business and communications and is univerally understood. Small minorities speak Hindi, Fijian, Chinese and Polynesian languages.

Religion: About 65% of the population are at least nominal Christians (Protestant 50%, Catholic 15%), although religious practice has declined radically.
Form of government: Constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. New Zealand is divided into 16 regions but these are not used for electoral purposes.
Capital: Wellington
Constitution: The New Zealand New Constitution Act 1986 came into effect on 1 January 1987.
Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand. The Queen came to the British throne on 6 February 1952, and has held the title Queen of New Zealand since 29 May 1953. The Queen's functions in New Zealand are exercised by a Governor-General, appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister. Anand Satyanand took office as Governor-General on 23 August 2006.
Head of government: The Prime Minister, appointed by the Governor-General. The Prime Minister is the leader of the largest party in the legislature and is accountable to it.
Legislature: New Zealand has a unicameral legislature, the House of Representatives, which has 120 members elected for three-year terms. Of these 65 are elected from single-member constituencies and 55 by proportional representation.
Electoral authority: The New Zealand Electoral Commission administers national elections.
Freedom House rating: Political Rights 1, Civil Liberties 1

Political history

The Maori arrived in New Zealand in the 9th century, and were undisturbed until 1642, when the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman discovered the islands. In 1769 James Cook explored New Zealand and claimed it for Britain. Informal British settlement began in the 1820s, and conflict between Maori and settlers led to formal British annexation in 1840. The Treaty of Waitangi guaranteed the Maori possession of their lands and fisheries. Settler violation of this treaty led to the Maori Wars between 1843 and 1872.

An elected legislature and self-government were granted to the settler population in 1853, and in 1867 the Maori won the right to a certain number of reserved seats in the legislature. The country was at first divided into provinces but these were abolished in 1877. In 1893 New Zealand became the first country in the world to give women the vote. In 1907 New Zealand became a self-governing Dominion within the British Empire. Legislative links with Britain were severed by the Statute of Westminster in 1931.

Since the 1930s New Zealand politics have been dominated by competition between the New Zealand Labour Party, a trade-union based social-democratic party, and the conservative New Zealand National Party. Labour came to power in 1935 and introduced pioneering social legislation, retaining office until 1949. Labour and National have alternated in office since, with Labour under Helen Clark holding office since 1999.

Since the introduction of proportional representation in 1993, the two-party system has broken down. The National Party has lost ground to the extreme right New Zealand First Party, the free-market radical ACT New Zealand and the centrist United Future New Zealand. Labour faces competition from the Green Party and Jim Anderton's Progressive Coalition.