People's Movement for Change 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 ...

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 ...

. It first contested 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: ...

, at which it won two seats: leader and former IRC commissioner Gary Juffa as Governor of

Oro Province Oro Province, formerly (and officially still) Northern Province, is a coastal province of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital is Popondetta. The province covers 22,800 km2, and has 176,206 inhabitants (2011 census). The province shares l ...

and former Port Moresby Rugby Football League chairman Labi Amaiu in Moresby Northeast Open. Amaiu crossed to the People's National Congress in January 2013, leaving Juffa as the party's sole member of parliament. Amaiu stated that he valued his former party and still had confidence in Juffa, but that he believed his people would benefit from the leadership of 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 ...

. In February 2015, the party was moved from the government benches to the opposition benches by Leader of Government Business

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 ...

for Juffa's outspoken criticism of government policies and announcements, particularly in relation to logging and landowner issues. The party officially joined the opposition in October 2015 in protest at claimed non-fulfilment of promises by the O'Neill government. In May 2016, Juffa publicly condemned the deal between the Papua New Guinean and Australian governments regarding the Manus Regional Processing Centre. He stated that the day the agreement was signed was "the lowest point...in PNG's time as an independent nation" and that PNG's sovereignty had been "prostituted". He further described the relationship between Papua New Guinea and Australia as "neo-colonialist grovelling". As of May 2019, the party had one seat in the National Parliament, with Juffa as its sole MP.

References

Political parties in Papua New Guinea {{PapuaNewGuinea-party-stub