Government Statistics
Type: Constitutional monarchy with Westminster-style Parliament.
Constitution: 1981.
Independence: November 1, 1981.
Branches: Executive--governor general (representing Queen Elizabeth II, head of state), prime minister (head of government), and cabinet. Legislative--a 17-member Senate appointed by the Governor General (mainly on the advice of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition) and a 17-member popularly elected House of Representatives. Judicial--magistrate's courts, Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (High Court and Court of Appeals, Privy Council in London).
Administrative subdivisions: Six parishes and two dependencies (Barbuda and Redonda).
Political parties: Antigua Labor Party (ALP, incumbent), United Progressive Party (UPP), Barbuda People's Movement (BPM).
Suffrage: Universal at 18.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS:
As head of state, Queen Elizabeth II is represented in Antigua and Barbuda by a governor general who acts on the advice of the prime minister and the cabinet. Antigua and Barbuda has a bicameral legislature: a 17-member Senate appointed by the governor general -- mainly on the advice of the prime minister and the leader of the opposition -- and a 17-member popularly elected House of Representatives. The prime minister is the leader of the majority party in the House and conducts affairs of state with the cabinet. The prime minister and the cabinet are responsible to the Parliament. Elections must be held at least every 5 years but may be called by the prime minister at any time. National elections are anticipated to occur prior to March of 2004.Antigua and Barbuda has a multiparty political system with a long history of hard-fought elections, two of which have resulted in peaceful changes of government. The opposition, however, claims to be disadvantaged by the ruling party's longstanding monopoly on patronage and its control of the electronic media.

Constitutional safeguards include freedom of speech, press, worship, movement, and association. Antigua and Barbuda is a member of the eastern Caribbean court system. Jurisprudence is based on English common law.
source: http://www.state.gov