during World War I at Gallipoli, Turkey), 25
April (1915)

Constitution:

consists of a series of legal documents, including certain acts of
the UK and New Zealand Parliaments, as well as The Constitution Act
1986, which is the principal formal charter; adopted 1 January 1987,
effective 1 January 1987

Legal system:

based on English law, with special land legislation and land courts
for the Maori; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations

Suffrage:

18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:

chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952);
represented by Governor General Anand SATYANAND (since 23 August
2006)
head of government: Prime Minister John KEY (since 19 November
2008); Deputy Prime Minister Bill ENGLISH (since 19 November 2008)
cabinet: Executive Council appointed by the governor general on the
recommendation of the prime minister
elections: the monarch is hereditary; governor general appointed by
the monarch; following legislative elections, the leader of the
majority party or the leader of a majority coalition is usually
appointed prime minister by the governor general; deputy prime
minister appointed by the governor general

Legislative branch:

unicameral House of Representatives - commonly called Parliament
(usually 120 seats; 69 members elected by popular vote in
single-member constituencies including 7 Maori constituencies, and
51 proportional seats chosen from party lists; to serve three-year
terms)
elections: last held 8 November 2008 (next to be held in 2011)
election results: percent of vote by party - NP 45.5%, NZLP 33.8%,
Green Party 6.4%, ACT New Zealand 3.7%, Maori 2.2%, Progressive
0.9%, UF 0.9%, other 6.6%; seats by party - NP 59, NZLP 43, Green
Party 8, ACT New Zealand 5, Maori 5, Progressive 1, UF 1
note: results of 2008 election saw the total number of seats
increase to 122

Judicial branch:

Supreme Court; Court of Appeal; High Court; note - judges appointed
by the Governor-General

Political parties and leaders:

ACT New Zealand [Rodney HIDE]; Green Party [Jeanette FITZSIMONS];
Maori Party [Whatarangi WINIATA]; National Party or NP [John KEY];
New Zealand First Party or NZFP [Winston PETERS]; New Zealand Labor
Party or NZLP [Phil GOFF]; Progressive Party [James (Jim) ANDERTON];
United Future or UF [Peter DUNNE]

Political pressure groups and leaders:

Women's Electoral Lobby or WEL
other: apartheid groups; civil right