elections: president elected by popular vote for a four-year term;
note--the House of Assembly chooses the presidential candidates from
among their members and then those candidates compete in a general
election; election last held 27 November 1998 (next to be held by NA
November 2002); vice president appointed by the president
election results: Teburoro TITO reelected president; percent of
vote--Teburoro TITO 52.3%, Dr. Harry TONG 45.8%, Amberoti NIKORA
1.9%, Taberannang TIMEON 0%

Legislative branch: unicameral House of Assembly or Maneaba Ni
Maungatabu (41 seats; 39 elected by popular vote, one ex officio
member, and one nominated to represent Banaba; members serve
four-year terms)
elections: last held 23 September 1998 (next to be held by NA
September 2002)
election results: percent of vote by party--NA; seats by
party--Maneaban Te Mauri Party 14, National Progressive Party 11,
independents 14

Judicial branch: Court of Appeal, judges at all levels are
appointed by the president; High Court, judges at all levels are
appointed by the president; 26 Magistrates' courts, judges at all
levels are appointed by the president

Political parties and leaders: National Progressive Party [Teatao
note: there is no tradition of formally organized political parties
in Kiribati; they more closely resemble factions or interest groups
because they have no party headquarters, formal platforms, or party
structures

International organization participation: ACP, AsDB, C, ESCAP,
IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, IMF, Intelsat
(nonsignatory user), Interpol, ITU, Sparteca, SPC, SPF, UNESCO, UPU,
WHO, WTrO (applicant)

Diplomatic representation in the US: Kiribati does not have an
embassy in the US; there is an honorary consulate in Honolulu

Diplomatic representation from the US: the US does not have an
embassy in Kiribati; the ambassador to the Marshall Islands is
accredited to Kiribati

Flag description: the upper half is red with a yellow frigate
bird flying over a yellow rising sun, and the lower half is blue
with three horizontal wavy white stripes to represent the ocean

Economy

Economy--overview: A remote country of 33 scattered coral atolls,
Kiribati has few national resources. Commercially viable phosphate
deposits were exhausted at the time of independence from the UK in
1979. Copra and fish now represent the bulk of production and