conventional long form: Republic of Nicaragua
Capital City: Managua
Type of Government: republic
Date of Independence: 15 September 1821 (from Spain)
National Holidays: Independence Day, 15 September (1821)
chief of state: President Jose Daniel ORTEGA Saavedra (since 10 January 2007); Vice President Moises Omar HALLESLEVENS Acevedo (since 10 January 2012)
head of government: President Jose Daniel ORTEGA Saavedra (since 10 January 2007); Vice President Moises Omar HALLESLEVENS Acevedo (since 10 January 2012)
Capital City: Managua
Type of Government: republic
Date of Independence: 15 September 1821 (from Spain)
National Holidays: Independence Day, 15 September (1821)
chief of state: President Jose Daniel ORTEGA Saavedra (since 10 January 2007); Vice President Moises Omar HALLESLEVENS Acevedo (since 10 January 2012)
head of government: President Jose Daniel ORTEGA Saavedra (since 10 January 2007); Vice President Moises Omar HALLESLEVENS Acevedo (since 10 January 2012)
President Jose Daniel ORTEGA Saavedra |
Vice President Moises Omar HALLESLEVENS Acevedo |
Executive Branch: chief of state: President Jose Daniel ORTEGA Saavedra (since 10 January 2007); Vice President Moises Omar HALLESLEVENS Acevedo (since 10 January 2012); note - the president is both chief of state and head of government. cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president. elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held on 6 November 2011 (next to be held by November 2016)
Legislative Branch: unicameral National Assembly or Asamblea Nacional (92 seats; 90 members elected by proportional representation and party lists to serve five-year terms; 1 seat for the previous president, 1 seat for the runner-up in previous presidential election) elections: last held on 6 November 2011 (next to be held by November 2017)
Judicial Branch: Supreme Court or Corte Suprema de Justicia (16 judges elected for five-year terms by the National Assembly); note - in 2010, President ORTEGA directly replaced seven justices on the Supreme Court
Suffrage: 16 years of age; universal
Ambassador in the U.S.: Ambassador Francisco Obadiah CAMPBELL Hooker
Location of Embassy in the U.S.: 1627 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009
Location of consulates in the U.S.: Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco
U.S. Ambassador: Ambassador (vacant)
Location of Embassy in Nicaragua: Kilometer 5.5 Carretera Sur, Managua
Location of U.S. consulates in Nicaragua: None
Representative to the UN: Maria RUBIALES de Chamorro
three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), white, and blue with the national coat of arms centered in the white band; the coat of arms features a triangle encircled by the words REPUBLICA DE NICARAGUA on the top and AMERICA CENTRAL on the bottom; the banner is based on the former blue-white-blue flag of the Federal Republic of Central America; the blue bands symbolize the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, while the white band represents the land between the two bodies of water