The Pangu Pati, also known as the Pangu Party or Papua and Niugini Union Pati, 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 political ideology ...

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 ...

. As of September 2019, the party had 23 of 111 seats 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 ...

History

The party was founded in June 1967 by (in particular)

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 ...

Albert Maori Kiki Sir Albert Maori Kiki (21 September 193113 March 1993) was a Papua New Guinea politician. He was one of the founders of the Pangu Party, which demanded 'home rule leading to eventual independence' for New Guinea. Born in the Kerema district on the ...

, Lucas Waka, Barry Holloway and Cecil Abel, "PANGU" standing for "Papua New Guinea Union." The initial interim executive was Somare, Joseph Nombri,

Oala Oala-Rarua Oala Oala-Rarua (12 June 1934 – 17 May 1980) was a Papua New Guinean educator, civil servant, trade unionist, politician and diplomat. He served as a member of the House of Assembly and Assistant Minister for the Treasury between 1968 and 1972, ...

and

Vin ToBaining Vin ToBaining (died 1995) was one of the first six elected indigenous members of the colonial-era Legislative Council of Papua and New Guinea, between 1961 and 1963. Subsequently, he was involved in the formation of the Pangu Party in 1967, whi ...

, while it had nine members of the

House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea The House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea was the legislature of the territory of Papua and New Guinea from 1964 to 1972. Before 1964, the Legislative Council of Papua and New Guinea sat from 1951 to 1964 under the Papua and New Guinea Act 1949 ...

: Nicholas Brokam, Holloway, Wegra Kenu, Siwi Kurondo, Paul Lapun, Pita Lus, Paliau Maloat, James Meanggarum and Tony Voutas. Somare later served as

Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea The prime minister of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Prai Minista bilong Papua Niugini) is Papua New Guinea's head of government, consequent on being the leader of the party or coalition with majority support in the National P ...

as the leader of the Pangu Party from 1972 to 1980 and from 1982 to 1985. In 1985,

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 ...

led a faction of the party to split with Somare, and Wingti won a no confidence vote against Somare, succeeding him as prime minister. In 1988, Somare was replaced as leader of Pangu by

Rabbie Namaliu Sir Rabbie Langanai Namaliu (born 3 April 1947) is a Papua New Guinea politician. He served as the fourth Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. from 4 July 1988 to 17 July 1992 as leader of the Pangu Party. Biography An ethnic To ...

who served as prime minister from 1988 to 1992. Somare would then become leader of the National Alliance Party. At the

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

, the party won 6 of 109 seats, under the leadership of Chris Haiveta. After that election, Somare returned to power as prime minister. Pangu became a member of his coalition government, and continued to support the Somare government after the

2007 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2007. * Electoral calendar 2007 * Elections in 2007 * 2007 United Nations Security Council election Africa * 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress * 2007 Algerian legislative el ...

, in which Pangu won 5 seats. It won only one seat at the 2012 election, that of

Angoram Angoram is a town and seat of Angoram District in East Sepik Province in north-western Papua New Guinea. The area is noted for its rubber and Theobroma cacao, cocoa plantations and the town is situated on the Sepik River. The town is served by Ango ...

MP Ludwig Schulze, but was left unrepresented when Schulze died in March 2013. In August 2014, Deputy Opposition Leader

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 ...

crossed to Pangu and reactivated its parliamentary wing, taking on the leadership. The party's numbers increased to two in August 2015 when William Samb won a by-election in Goilala Open.

Election results

References

Political parties in Papua New Guinea *Main Political parties established in 1967 1967 establishments in Oceania {{PapuaNewGuinea-party-stub