The
National Parliament of Papua New Guinea is the unicameral national legislature in
Papua New GuineaPapua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
. It was first created in 1964 as the
House of Assembly of Papua and New GuineaThe 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...
, but gained its current name with the granting of independence in 1975.
The 109 members of the parliament all serve five-year terms. 89 members are elected from single-member "Open" electorates, which are sometimes referred to as "seats" but are officially known as constituencies.
The
National Parliament of Papua New Guinea is the unicameral national legislature in
Papua New GuineaPapua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
. It was first created in 1964 as the
House of Assembly of Papua and New GuineaThe 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...
, but gained its current name with the granting of independence in 1975.
The 109 members of the parliament all serve five-year terms. 89 members are elected from single-member "Open" electorates, which are sometimes referred to as "seats" but are officially known as constituencies. The remaining 20 are elected from single-member "Provincial" electorates, each covering a province-level division: the 18 provinces, the autonomous province of
Bougainville (North Solomons)The Autonomous Region of Bougainville, also known as North Solomons, is an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea and is the largest of the Solomon Islands group. The largest island is Bougainville Island, and the province also includes the adjacent island of Buka and assorted outlying islands...
, and the
National Capital District. Each Provincial member becomes the Governor of the province, unless they take up a ministry, in which case the position of Governor passes to one of the Open members from the province.
From 1964 until 1977 an Optional Preferential Voting System was used. The first past the post system was used from 1977 until 2002. Electoral reforms introduced by former Prime Minister
Mekere MorautaSir Mekere Morauta, KCMG is a Papua New Guinean political figure. He served as the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea between 1999 and 2002...
introduced
Limited Preferential VotingPreferential voting is a type of ballot structure used in several electoral systems in which voters rank a list or group of candidates in order of preference. For example, the voter may write a '1' beside their first choice, a '2' beside their second preference, and so on...
, where voters number their first three preferred candidates. LPV was first used nationally in the
2007 electionGeneral elections were held in Papua New Guinea from 30 June 2007 to 14 July 2007.For the first time, the election did not use first past the post , but rather Limited Preferential Voting, in which voters number...
.
As in other
CommonwealthThe Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the Commonwealth and previously as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-three independent member states. Most of them were formerly part of the British Empire. They co-operate within a framework of common values...
RealmsA Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state within the Commonwealth of Nations that has Elizabeth II as its monarch. The sixteen current realms have a combined land area of 18.8 million km² , and a population of 132 million; all but about two million live in the six most populous states, the United...
, the party or coalition with the most seats in the parliament is invited by the
Governor-GeneralThe Governor-General of Papua New Guinea is the representative of Queen Elizabeth II, known in Tok Pisin as 'Missis Kwin', Papua New Guinea's head of state, performing the duties of the Queen in her absence...
to form a government, and their leader subsequently becomes
Prime Minister of Papua New GuineaThe Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea is Papua New Guinea's head of government, consequent on being the leader of the party or coalition with majority support in the National Parliament. Papua New Guinea is a Commonwealth realm...
, with the Prime Minister then appointing his
cabinetThe Cabinet of Papua New Guinea functions as the policy and decision-making body of the executive branch within the government system of Papua New Guinea. The Prime Minister and Ministers serve as members of the Cabinet.- Current members of Cabinet:...
from fellow members of the parliament.
Papua New Guinea has a fractious political culture and no party in the history of the parliament has yet won majority government. This has meant that negotiations between several parties have been necessary for governments to be formed. New governments are protected by law from votes of no confidence for the first 18 months of their term and in the last 12 months before a national election. More recently, in a move aimed at further minimising no-confidence motions, then-Prime Minister
Mekere MorautaSir Mekere Morauta, KCMG is a Papua New Guinean political figure. He served as the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea between 1999 and 2002...
introduced changes that prevented members of the government of the day from voting in favour of such a motion.
There is universal franchise for all citizens over the age of 18, although voting is not compulsory.
See also