ian 52% (Methodist 37%, Roman Catholic 9%), Hindu 38%,
Muslim 8%, other 2% note: Fijians are mainly Christian, Indians are Hindu,
and there is a Muslim minority (1986)

Languages: English (official), Fijian, Hindustani

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total
population: 92.5% male: 90% female: 95% (1999 est.)

Government Fiji

Country name: conventional long form: Republic of the Fiji Islands
conventional short form: Fiji

Government type: republic note: military coup leader Maj. Gen. Sitiveni
RABUKA formally declared Fiji a republic on 6 October 1987

Capital: Suva

Administrative divisions: 4 divisions and 1 dependency*; Central,
Eastern, Northern, Rotuma*, Western

Independence: 10 October 1970 (from UK)

National holiday: Independence Day, second Monday of October (1970)

Constitution: promulgated on 25 July 1990 and amended on 25 July
1997 to allow nonethnic Fijians greater say in government and to make
multiparty government mandatory; entered into force 28 July 1998; note -
the May 1999 election was the first test of the amended constitution
and introduced open voting - not racially prescribed - for the first
time at the national level

Legal system: based on British system

Suffrage: 21 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state: President Ratu Josefa ILOILOVATU
Uluivuda (since NA 2000); Vice President Jope SENILOLI (since NA 2000)
head of government: Prime Minister Laisenia QARASE (since 10 September
2000); Deputy Prime Minister Ratu Epeli NAILATIKAU (since NA 2000)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the prime minister from among the
members of Parliament and is responsible to Parliament; note - there
is also a Presidential Council that advises the president on matters of
national importance and a Great Council of Chiefs which consists of the
highest ranking members of the traditional chiefly system elections:
president elected by the Great Council of Chiefs for a five-year term;
prime minister appointed by the president election results: Ratu Josefa
ILOILOVATU Uluivuda elected president by the Great Council of Chiefs;
percent of vote - NA%

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (34
seats; 24 appointed by the Great Council of Chiefs, nine appointed
by the president, and one appointed by the council of Rotuma) and the
House of Representatives (71 seats; 23 reserved for ethnic Fijians, 19
reserved for ethnic Indians, three r