ies, were: Anseba, Debub, Debubawi Keyih Bahri, Gash-Barka,
Maakel, and Semanawi Keyih Bahri; more recently, it has been
reported that these provinces have been redesignated regions and
renamed Southern Red Sea, Northern Red Sea, Anseba, Gash-Barka,
Southern, and Central

Independence: 24 May 1993 (from Ethiopia)

National holiday: Independence Day, 24 May (1993)

Constitution: the transitional constitution, decreed on 19 May 1993,
was replaced by a new constitution adopted on 23 May 1997, but not
yet implemented

Legal system: operates on the basis of transitional laws that
incorporate pre-independence statutes of the Eritrean People's
Liberation Front, revised Ethiopian laws, customary laws, and post
independence enacted laws

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state: President ISAIAS Afworki (since 8
June 1993); note - the president is both the chief of state and head
of government and is head of the State Council and National Assembly

head of government: President ISAIAS Afworki (since 8 June 1993);
note - the president is both the chief of state and head of
government and is head of the State Council and National Assembly

cabinet: State Council is the collective executive authority

elections: president elected by the National Assembly; election
last held 8 June 1993 (next tentatively scheduled for December 2001)

election results: ISAIAS Afworki elected president; percent of
National Assembly vote - ISAIAS Afworki 95%

Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly (150 seats; term
limits not established)

elections: in May 1997, following the adoption of the new
constitution, 75 members of the PFDJ Central Committee (the old
Central Committee of the EPLF), 60 members of the 527-member
Constituent Assembly which had been established in 1997 to discuss
and ratify the new constitution, and 15 representatives of Eritreans
living abroad were formed into a Transitional National Assembly to
serve as the country's legislative body until country-wide elections
to a National Assembly are held; only 75 members will be elected to
the National Assembly - the other 75 will be members of the Central
Committee of the PFDJ; parliamentary elections are now scheduled for
NA December 2001

Judicial branch: Supreme Court; 10 provincial courts; 29 district
courts

Political parties and leaders: People's Front for Democracy and
Justice or PFDJ, the only party recognized by the