Appendixes Solomon Islands, with its approximately 400,000 people, is an archipelago stretching over 840 miles in the South Pacific. Its government is a modified parliamentary system consisting of a single-chamber legislative assembly of 50 members. Executive authority lies with the Prime Minister and his Cabinet. The Prime Minister, elected by a majority vote of Parliament, selects his own Cabinet.
Political legitimacy rests on direct election by secret ballot.
There have been five general elections since independence in 1978, most recently in August. The judiciary is independent. A police force of about 500 men under civilian control is responsible for law enforcement. About 85 percent of the population engage to some extent in subsistence farming, obtaining food by gardening and fishing, and have little involvement in the cash economy. Most basic individual rights are provided for in the Constitution, respected by authorities, and defended by an independent judiciary.