The Melanesian Liberal Party is a
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
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 ...
.
The party won 2 out of 109 seats in the
2007 General Election. Following the 2007 Election, it initially supported Prime Minister
Michael Somare
Sir Michael Thomas Somare (9 April 1936 – 26 February 2021) was a Papua New Guinean politician. Widely called the "father of the nation" (), he was the first Prime Minister after independence. At the time of his death, Somare was also the lo ...
's government, as Party leader
Allan Marat was appointed Attorney-General and Justice Minister. In May 2010, however, Marat publicly criticised aspects of government policy, and resigned upon being asked to do so by the Prime Minister. He informed Somare that the MLP would no longer be supporting the government.
It returned two MPs at the
2012 General Election:
Rabaul Open MP Marat and
Gazelle Open MP
Malakai Tabar.
Tabar subsequently crossed to the
National Alliance Party, leaving Marat as their sole MP.
As of May 2019, the party had one seat in 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 ...
.
References
Liberal parties in Oceania
Political parties in Papua New Guinea
Political parties established in 2007
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