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 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, Lucas Waka,

Barry Holloway Sir Barry Blyth Holloway, KBE (26 September 193416 January 2013)"PNG’s first ...

and Cecil Abel, "PANGU" standing for "Papua New Guinea Union." The initial interim executive was Somare, Joseph Nombri, Oala Oala-Rarua 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, whic ...

, while it had nine members of the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea:

Nicholas Brokam Nicholas Brokam (born ) was a Papua New Guinean politician. He was a member of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly between 1961 and 1968, also serving as Under-Secretary for Economic Affairs and Information and Extension Services. Bi ...

, Holloway, Wegra Kenu,

Siwi Kurondo Siwi may refer to: *the Siwi people *the Siwi language * Siwi, Burkina Faso *SIWI, Stockholm International Water Institute *Another spelling for Sibi Sibi ( Sindhi: سيوي ur, ) is a city situated in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. The ...

Paul Lapun Sir Paul Lapun (1923 – 26 October 2003) was the first Papua New Guinean to receive a knighthood. Both a supporter of independence for Papua New Guinea (PNG) and of the secessionist movement on Bougainville, Lapun served in the House of Asse ...

Pita Lus Sir Pita Lus (16 September 1935 – 1 October 2021) was an outspoken Papua New Guinean politician who played an important role in the country's independence in 1975 and is credited with having persuaded Michael Somare, the country's first prime ...

, Paliau Maloat,

James Meanggarum James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

and

Tony Voutas Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

. Somare later served as Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea as the leader of the Pangu Party from 1972 to 1980 and from 1982 to 1985. In 1985, Paias Wingti 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 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, the party won 6 of 109 seats, under the leadership of

Chris Haiveta Christopher Seseve Haiveta (born 20 September 1959) is a Papua New Guinean politician. He was the head of the Pangu Party of Papua New Guinea and a member of National Parliament. In 1993 he was named Deputy Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. He al ...

. 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 This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

, that of Angoram MP

Ludwig Schulze Ludwig may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ludwig (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Ludwig (surname), including a list of people * Ludwig Ahgren, or simply Ludwig, American YouTube live streamer and c ...

, 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 William Samb (died 3 March 2022) was a Papua New Guinean politician. Biography Samb was a part of the Goilalan people of southeastern Papua New Guinea and was among the first of his people to obtain higher education, attending the Papua New G ...

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