Government of Tuvalu

Local government consists of a Town Council on the main island of Funafuti and Island Councils, first established in 1965, on seven other islands. Each council provides local services and consists of six elected members, one of whom acts as president.

Tuvalu is politically stable and politics are relatively low-key. There are no real political parties. However, after independence in 1978, members of Parliament had tended to align themselves with either Sir Toaripi Lauti, Tuvalu's first Prime Minister, or Dr. Tomasi Puapua, who served as Prime Minister from 1981 to 1989. In 1989, Dr. Puapua lost the election to Bikenibeu Paeniu, a political new-comer who won the seat of his home island Funafuti, in an earlier by-election prior to contesting for the Prime Ministership. Following two elections in 1993 made necessary due to an earlier Parliamentary deadlock, Kamuta Latasi became Tuvalu's new Prime Minister narrowly defeating incumbent Paeniu.