Long-form name: Kingdom of the Netherlands

Type: constitutional monarchy

Capital: Amsterdam, but government resides at The Hague

Administrative divisions: 12 provinces (provincien, singular--provincie); Drenthe, Flevoland, Friesland, Gelderland, Groningen, Limburg, Noord-Brabant, Noord-Holland, Overijssel, Utrecht, Zeeland, Zuid-Holland

Dependent areas: Aruba, Netherlands Antilles

Independence: 1579 (from Spain)

Constitution: 17 February 1983

Legal system: civil law system incorporating French penal theory; judicial review in the Supreme Court of legislation of lower order rather than Acts of Parliament; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

National holiday: Queen's Day, 30 April (1938)

Executive branch: monarch, prime minister, vice prime minister, Cabinet, Cabinet of Ministers

Legislative branch: bicameral States General (Staten Generaal) consists of an upper chamber or First Chamber (Eerste Kamer) and a lower chamber or Second Chamber (Tweede Kamer)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court (De Hoge Raad)

Leaders: Chief of State--Queen BEATRIX Wilhelmina Armgard (since 30 April 1980); Heir Apparent WILLEM-ALEXANDER, Prince of Orange, son of Queen Beatrix (born 27 April 1967); Head of Government--Prime Minister Ruud (Rudolph) F. M. LUBBERS (since 4 November 1982); Deputy Prime Minister Wim KOK (since 2 November 1989)

Political parties and leaders: Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), Willem van Velzen; Labor (PvdA), Wim Kok; Liberal (VVD), Joris Voorhoeve; Democrats '66 (D'66), Hans van Mierio; Communist (CPN), Henk Hoekstra; a host of minor parties

Suffrage: universal at age 18

Elections: First Chamber--last held on 9 June l987 (next to be held 9 June 1991); results--elected by the country's 12 provincial councils; seats--(75 total) percent of seats by party NA; Second Chamber--last held on 6 September 1989 (next to be held by September 1993); results--CDA 35.3%, PvdA 31.9%, VVD 14.6%, D'66 7.9%, others 10.3%; seats--(150 total) CDA 54, PvdA 49, VVD 22, D'66 12, others 13

Communists: about 6,000

Other political or pressure groups: large multinational firms; Federation of Netherlands Trade Union Movement (comprising Socialist and Catholic trade unions) and a Protestant trade union; Federation of Catholic and Protestant Employers Associations; the nondenominational Federation of Netherlands Enterprises; and IKV--Interchurch Peace Council

Member of: ADB, Benelux, CCC, Council of Europe, DAC, EC, ECE, EIB, EMS, ESA, ESCAP, FAO, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, ICES, ICO, IDA, IDB--Inter-American Development Bank, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, ILZSG, IMF, IMO, INRO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, IRC, ITC, ITU, IWC--International Wheat Council (with respect to interests of the Netherlands Antilles and Suriname), NATO, OAS (observer), OECD, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WEU, WHO,

Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Richard H. FEIN; Chancery at 4200 Linnean Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 244-5300; there are Dutch Consulates General in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco; US--Ambassador C. Howard WILKINS; Embassy at Lange Voorhout 102, 2514 EJ The Hague (mailing address APO New York 09159); telephone p31o (70) 62-49-11; there is a US Consulate General in Amsterdam

Flag: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and blue; similar to the flag of Luxembourg which uses a lighter blue and is longer

NOTE: The information regarding Netherlands on this page is re-published from the 1990 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Netherlands Government 1990 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Netherlands Government 1990 should be addressed to the CIA.