REPUBLIC OF PALAU Official name: Republic of Palau Location: Pacific International organisations: The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, Pacific Islands Forum, The United Nations Borders: None Coastline: Pacific Ocean Land area: 458 Km2 Population: 20,000 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 widely 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 nine 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.
Freedom House 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.

Palua 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.