General elections were held in
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
from 4 to 22 July 2022 to elect the members of the
National Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
for a new five-year term.
Background
During the previous election held in 2017, the
People's National Congress (PNC), led by prime minister
Peter O'Neill
Peter Charles Paire O'Neill (born 13 February 1965) is a Papua New Guinean politician who served as the seventh Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 2011 to 2019. From 2002 until the present he served as Member of Parliament for Ialibu-Pan ...
, won a plurality, securing 28 seats. The
National Alliance Party (NAP) won 15 seats; the
United Resources Party
The United Resources Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea.
Foundation, Agiru and Akoitai's leadership
It was established in December 1997 by Southern Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru, who became the inaugural leader. Its platform emp ...
(URP) secured ten seats whilst the
Pangu Pati
The Pangu Pati, also known as the Pangu Party or Papua and Niugini Union Pati, is a political party in Papua New Guinea. As of September 2019, the party had 23 of 111 seats in the National Parliament.
History
The party was founded in June 1967 ...
won nine. The
People's Progress Party
The People's Progress Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea.
It was founded on 11 November 1969 by Julius Chan and Warren Dutton, forming a caucus of eleven members of the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea.
Following indepen ...
and the
Papua New Guinea Party
The Papua New Guinea Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea. It was founded in 2007 by former Prime Minister and Leader of the People's Democratic Movement, Mekere Morauta, along with MP Wake Goi.
The party won 8 out of 109 seats in the ...
won five seats each, the
Triumph Heritage Empowerment Rural Party
The Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party ("T.H.E Party") is a political party in Papua New Guinea. It was founded in 2012 by Don Polye, Minister of Finance at the time.
As of May 2019, the party has 1 member in the National Parliament of Papua New G ...
secured four seats, whilst the
National Party won three seats. The
People's Labour Party (PLP), the
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
Fo ...
(SDP) and the
People's Party won two seats each. Independents won 14 seats, and minor parties secured the remainder. No women were elected, which made Papua New Guinea one of the few countries in the world at the time to have no female members of the national legislature. Significant irregularities marred that election, with a minimum of sixteen electoral officials arrested for corruption. The National Parliament re-elected Peter O'Neill as prime minister.
In 2019, cabinet members and the ruling coalition began to express discontent toward O'Neill's leadership, with many defecting to the opposition. O'Neill resigned from the premiership on 29 May after it became apparent that he would lose a vote of no confidence.
James Marape
James Marape (born 24 April 1971) is a Papua New Guinean politician, who is serving as the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea since May 2019. He has been a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since July 2007, representing the el ...
, who served as O'Neill's minister of finance and had defected from the PNC to the Pangu Pati shortly before, was elected by the National Parliament to succeed O'Neill as prime minister. In October 2019, Marape became the leader of the Pangu Pati.
In December 2019, the
autonomous region of Bougainville
Bougainville ( ; ; Tok Pisin: ''Bogenvil''), officially the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (Tok Pisin: ''Otonomos Region bilong Bogenvil''), is an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea. The largest island is Bougainville Island, while the re ...
voted in a landslide for independence from Papua New Guinea. Due to the country's immense ethnic and linguistic diversity, some national parliament members feared that Bougainville's departure could inspire other regions to demand independence from Papua New Guinea. In 2021, the autonomous region's president,
Ishmael Toroama
Ishmael Toroama (born 28 February 1969) is a Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Bougainvillean politician who was elected President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in 2020 Bougainville Presidential Election, 2020. He is a former commander ...
, announced that Bougainville would declare independence by 2027.
Marape's government faced a crisis in November 2020 that saw the defection of numerous cabinet ministers and other coalition members to the opposition. Marape then attempted to pass an emergency budget in 2021 without the presence of the opposition. Although it passed, the
supreme court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
declared the session unconstitutional. Marape then recessed parliament for four months to ensure he did not lose a vote of no confidence before the 2022 election.
Deputy prime minister
Sam Basil
Samuel H. Basil (16 November 1969 – 11 May 2022) was a Papua New Guinean politician. He was a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 2007, representing the electorate of Bulolo Open, until his death in 2022. From 8 June 2 ...
was killed in a car accident on 11 May 2022. His death, which occurred hours before nominations were scheduled to open, caused the electoral commission to delay the election until July. Basil was succeeded by
John Rosso, who was sworn in on 25 May.
Electoral system
The 118 members of the
National Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
are elected from single-member constituencies by limited
instant-runoff voting
Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a type of ranked preferential voting method. It uses a majority voting rule in single-winner elections where there are more than two candidates. It is commonly referred to as ranked-choice voting (RCV) in the Un ...
; voters are given up to three preferences, with a candidate declared elected once they received over 50% of preference votes. Of the 118 members, 96 are elected from "open" seats and 22 from provincial seats based on the twenty provinces, the
Autonomous Region of Bougainville
Bougainville ( ; ; Tok Pisin: ''Bogenvil''), officially the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (Tok Pisin: ''Otonomos Region bilong Bogenvil''), is an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea. The largest island is Bougainville Island, while the re ...
and the
National Capital District
A capital district, capital region or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any politi ...
. The winners of the provincial seats also become the provincial governor.
Vote counting began on 29 July. Due to the voting system, vote staggering and how rural much of the country is, the vote counting usually takes several weeks.
Campaign
The voting period, staggered from 9 to 22 July, is preceded by an official campaign period from 12 May to 8 July, during which over 3,000 candidates competed.
Conduct
In early June,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
sent 130 troops to Papua New Guinea to assist with the electoral process in logistics and air transport to transfer election material throughout the country for the duration of the election and subsequent tallying process.
Voting commenced on 4 July. Joseph Tondop, the police chief superintendent, warned voters not to engage in the practice of vote-buying. He also guaranteed that the presence of security forces would ensure that the elections would be "free, fair and safe and transparent".
The
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
sent a delegation headed by the former president of
Nauru
Nauru ( or ; na, Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru ( na, Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Ki ...
,
Baron Waqa
Baron Divavesi Waqa (; born 31 December 1959) is a Nauruan politician who was the 14th President of Nauru from 11 June 2013 until 27 August 2019. He previously served as Minister of Education from 2004 to 2007.
Political role
Waqa was elected in ...
, to observe the electoral process.
As in the previous election, significant issues arose once voting commenced. Due to an outdated electoral roll, authorities turned away an estimated one million voters at polling stations throughout the country, which led to outrage among the denied voters, with individuals in the provinces of
Hela
HeLa (; also Hela or hela) is an immortalized cell line used in scientific research. It is the oldest and most commonly used human cell line. The line is derived from cervical cancer cells taken on February 8, 1951, named after Henrietta La ...
and
East Sepik
East Sepik is a province in Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Wewak. East Sepik has an estimated population of 433,481 people (2010 census) and is 43,426 km square in size.
History
Cherubim Dambui was appointed as East Sepik's first premier ...
responding by setting ballot papers ablaze and damaging ballot boxes.
[ Some polling stations reportedly used rolls from the 2017 or ]2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
elections. The electoral commission postponed voting on several occasions in Port Moresby
(; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...
due to logistical issues. Many polling stations had insufficient ballot papers.[
Incidents of violence occurred with a young woman killed at a polling station allegedly by police while waiting to cast her vote. Witnesses claim the attack was unprovoked.
Voting ended on 22 July.
]
Preliminary results
Prime Minister James Marape
James Marape (born 24 April 1971) is a Papua New Guinean politician, who is serving as the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea since May 2019. He has been a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since July 2007, representing the el ...
and his Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso were easily re-elected to Parliament: The former obtained 66.8% of the votes from the first count in his constituency of Tari and the second 50.09% of the votes at the first count in his constituency of Lae
Lae () is the capital of Morobe Province and is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located near the delta of the Markham River and at the start of the Highlands Highway, which is the main land transport corridor between the Highl ...
. The Leader of the Parliamentary Opposition, Patrick Pruaitch (leader of the National Alliance Party), was beaten in his Aitape-Lumi constituency, which he had represented in Parliament from 2002. National People's Congress
The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China.
With 2, ...
candidate, Anderson Mise, won this seat. Peter O'Neill
Peter Charles Paire O'Neill (born 13 February 1965) is a Papua New Guinean politician who served as the seventh Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 2011 to 2019. From 2002 until the present he served as Member of Parliament for Ialibu-Pan ...
(leader of the National People's Congress), another major opposition figure and former Prime Minister, was re-elected in his constituency of Ialibu-Pangia.
The Minister of Agriculture John Simon (Pangu Pati
The Pangu Pati, also known as the Pangu Party or Papua and Niugini Union Pati, is a political party in Papua New Guinea. As of September 2019, the party had 23 of 111 seats in the National Parliament.
History
The party was founded in June 1967 ...
) was defeated in his constituency of Maprik, in the 26th round of vote counting, by the candidate of the National People's Congress
The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China.
With 2, ...
, Gabriel Kapris, former Minister of Commerce and Industries. Former Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan
Sir Julius Chan (born 29 August 1939) served as Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 1980 to 1982 and from 1994 to 1997. He is Member of Parliament for New Ireland Province, having won the seat in the 2007 national election. He is also the c ...
(People's Progress Party
The People's Progress Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea.
It was founded on 11 November 1969 by Julius Chan and Warren Dutton, forming a caucus of eleven members of the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea.
Following indepen ...
) was re-elected governor and MP for the province of New Ireland, in the first count with 54.7% of the vote. Another former prime minister, Paias Wingti
Paias Wingti (born 2 February 1951) is a Papua New Guinean politician. He served as the third Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea between 1985 and 1988, and again from 1992 to 1994. Early life and education
Wingti hails from the Jika Tribe of the ...
(People's Democratic Movement
The People's Democratic Movement is a political party in Papua New Guinea.
It was founded by Paias Wingti in 1985, after his faction left the Pangu Party. Wingti served as prime minister from 1985 to 1988 and from 1992 to 1994. He was later rep ...
), lost his post as governor of the Western Highlands province and as a member of parliament.
While Parliament had no female MPs during the 2017-2022 legislature, two candidates were successful in the 2022 election. The economist Rufina Peter
Rufina Peter is a Papua New Guinean agricultural economist and politician. Until her election to the National Parliament on 5 August 2022, Papua New Guinea (PNG) was one of only three countries without a woman in parliament. She was also electe ...
(National People's Congress) was elected MP and Governor of the Central Province; defeating the incumbent, Robert Agarobe (Pangu Pati). Kessy Sawang
Kessy Sawang is a Papua New Guinean politician and former senior civil servant. Until her election and that of Rufina Peter to the National Parliament in August 2022, Papua New Guinea (PNG) had been one of only three countries without a woman i ...
( People First Party) won the Rai Coast Constituency.
Allan Marat (Melanesian Liberal Party
The Melanesian Liberal Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea.
The party won 2 out of 109 seats in the 2007 General Election. Following the 2007 Election, it initially supported Prime Minister Michael Somare's government, as Party leader ...
), a figure in the fight against corruption, MP since 2002 and former Deputy Prime Minister and Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
, was beaten by only three votes in his constituency of Rabaul
Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about 600 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in ...
. He obtained, 49.99% against 50.01% for his opponent Graham Rumet of Pangu Pati. This was the closest result in the history of Papua New Guinea's parliamentary elections.
Michael Marum, former coach of the Papua New Guinea rugby league team
The Papua New Guinea national rugby league team represents Papua New Guinea in the sport of rugby league football.
In Papua New Guinea, Rugby league in Papua New Guinea, Rugby League is a highly popular sport and is regarded as the country's na ...
, was elected governor and MP for the province of East New Britain
East New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea, consisting of the north-eastern part of the island of New Britain and the Duke of York Islands. The capital of the province is Kokopo, not far from the old capital of Rabaul, which was largely des ...
. William Nakin, Member of Parliament for Bougainville-North for the National Alliance Party, was re-elected post-mortem, having died on 12 July during the ballot.
Aftermath
Following the elections, Marape was re-elected prime minister unopposed.
See also
*
References
{{Papua New Guinean elections
Elections in Papua New Guinea
General
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
Papua
Papua
Election and referendum articles with incomplete results