Papua Besena (lit. ''Papua Tribe'') was a political party 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 ...

History

The party was established in June 1973 by independent MP Josephine Abaijah.Haruhiro Fukui (1985) ''Political parties of Asia and the Pacific'', Greenwood Press, p945 The party advocated a separate state of Papua and opposed immigration from

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

. In the 1974

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 ...

City Council elections the party won a landslide victory, and on 16 March 1975 Abaijah declared an independent Papuan state. However, this was ignored by the government. In the 1977 general elections the party won six seats, winning all constituencies in Port Moresby and Central Province. When provincial elections were held in 1979, it was victorious in Central Province. In 1980 the party joined a government coalition headed by Prime Minister

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 ...

, alongside the Melanesian Alliance Party, the National Party, 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 independ ...

and some members of the United Party. The party was reduced to three seats in the 1982 general elections, after which it returned to opposition. It lost all three seats in the 1987 elections, in which it received less than 1% of the vote. It did not contest any further national elections.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An expe ...

, Florian Grotz, & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II'', p771

References

{{Papua New Guinean political parties 1973 establishments in Papua New Guinea Anti-immigration politics in Oceania Defunct political parties in Papua New Guinea Political parties established in 1973 Political parties with year of disestablishment missing