REPUBLIC OF PALAU
• Official name: Republic of Palau / Beluu er a Belau
• Location: Pacific
• International organisations: African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, Pacific Islands
Forum, United Nations
• Borders: None
• Coastline: Pacific Ocean
• Land area: 458 Km2
• Population: 20,000
• Annual GDP (PPP) per capita: US$8,100 (2009 CIA estimate). World ranking: 94
• Ethnicity: About 70% are Palauan, a mixture of Micronesian and Malay. Most of the remainder are
Filipino, Chinese or Vietnamese.
• Languages: English is the official language and the language of business and media. The people speak
Palauan, Sonsoral, Tobi and Anguar. Japanese and Filipino are widely understood.
• Religion: Most of the population are nominally Christians, about half Catholic and the rest various
Protestant denominations. Cults such as Mormonism, the Jehovah's Witnesses and the indigenous cult
Modekngei are also followed.
Form of government: Presidential democratic republic.
• Capital: Koror
• Constitution: The
Constitution of Palau came into effect on 1 January 1981.
• Head of state: The President, elected by direct universal suffrage for a four-year term.
• Head of government: The President, who appoints the Cabinet.
• Legislature: Palau has a bicameral legislature, the Parliament (Olbiil Era Kelulau), consisting of the
Senate, which has 13 members, and the
House of Delegates,
which has 16 members, all elected for four-year terms.
• Electoral authority: The Palau Election Commission administers national elections. The Commission
has no website.
• Freedom House 2009 rating: Political Rights 1, Civil Liberties 1
Political history
Palau was discovered in 1543 by the Spanish explorer, Ruiz Lopez de Villalobos, and was formally claimed by
Spain in 1710. It was administered from Manila as part of the Spanish Caroline Islands until 1885, when Spain
sold the islands to Germany. From 1899 the Carolines were part of German New Guinea. They were occupied by the
Japanese in 1914 and in 1922 were ceded to Japan as a League of Nations mandate. Palau was occupied by the
United States in 1944 and in 1947 became part of the United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands,
under US administration. During the 1970s Palau was granted internal self-government, and in 1979 decided that
it did not want to become part of a united Micronesian state. In 1981, therefore, it was granted autonomy as
the Republic of Palau, bound by a Compact of Association with the United States. Full independence was delayed
by a prolonged dispute with the US over the storage of nuclear materials on the islands.
Palau became finally independent on 1 October 1994. Although there are no political parties, Palau has had a
stormy political history. The first president, Haruo Ignacio Remeliik, was assassinated, and his successor,
Lazarus Eitaro Salii, committed suicide following bribery allegations. Thomas Remengesau, Jr. became president in
2001 and was re-elected in 2004. He was succeeded in 2008 by
Johnson Toribiong.
Updated June 2011
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