General elections were held in

Dutch New Guinea Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea ( nl, Nederlands-Nieuw-Guinea, id, Nugini Belanda) was the western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas territory of the Kingdo ...

for the first and only time in January 1961.

Background

The elections were held following the establishment of the

New Guinea Council The New Guinea Council ( nl, Nieuw-Guinea Raad) was a unicameral representative body formed in the Dutch colony of Netherlands New Guinea in 1961. History Prior to the formation of the New Guinea Council, there existed a Council of Directors, wh ...

(''Raad'') to replace the Council of Directors, which consisted of the heads of government departments.Two NG Council Elections Almost Complete
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', March 1961, p18 The new council consisted of 16 elected members and 12 members appointed by the Governor. Voting was open to all Dutch citizens aged 21 and over who had lived in the territory since 1 January 1958.Dutch Council's Voting Arrangements
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', November 1960, pp114–115 The 16 elected members were elected from 14 constituencies. Members were directly elected in

Hollandia Hollandia may refer to: * HVV Hollandia, Dutch football team * Hollandia Victoria Combinatie, defunct Dutch football team * ''Hollandia'' (1742 ship), a ship of the Dutch East India Company, wrecked in 1743 on her maiden voyage * Jayapura, a city ...

and

Manokwari Manokwari is a coastal town and the capital of the Indonesian province of West Papua. It is one of only seven provincial capitals of Indonesia without a city status. It is also the administrative seat of Manokwari Regency. However, under pro ...

, with the other twelve constituencies having a two-stage process where voters elected representatives that subsequently selected the Council members. Illiterate voters were able to whisper the name of their chosen representative to polling station staff.

Results

Appointed members

Aftermath

J.H.F. Sollewijn Gelpke was chosen as Speaker.Members of NNG's New Council
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', April 1961, pp136–137

References

{{Indonesian elections

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

Netherlands New Guinea New Guinea Council January 1961 events in Asia January 1961 events in Oceania Election and referendum articles with incomplete results