Elections and political parties in Tuvalu scale of the 15 seat parliament, Tuvalu has no political parties, meaning that the political system in Tuvalu exhibits the traits of a Non-partisan democracy. During the time Tuvalu was a British dependency the parliament was called the House of the Assembly or "Fale I Fono". Following independence in October 1978 the House of the Assembly was renamed the Parliament of Tuvalu or "Palamene o Tuvalu". As a consequence of the Ellice Islands self-determination referendum, 1974, separation occurred in two stages. The Tuvaluan Order 1975, which took effect on 1 October 1975, recognised Tuvalu as a separate British dependency with
Pacific Islands of Taiwan and other islands of the Republic of China; the Philippines; islands in the South China Sea, which includes the disputed South China Sea Islands; most of the islands of Indonesia; and the island nation of Japan, which comprises the Japanese Archipelago. This list includes all islands found in the geographic Pacific Ocean, with an area larger than 10,000 square kilometers. Pacific Islands The Pacific Islands are the islands of the Pacific Ocean. Three major groups of islands in the Pacific Ocean are Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia. Depending on the context, "Pacific Islands" may refer to countries and islands