Elections in Papua New Guinea

Last updated

Papua New Guinea elects on the national level a legislature. The National Parliament has 111 members, elected for a five-year term in single-seat constituencies. [1] Papua New Guinea has a multi-party system, with numerous parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments. The first-past-the-post voting system was previously used, but in 2002 the limited instant-runoff voting system was enacted into law and first used during the 2007 national election and 2008 local elections. [2]

Contents

Electorates

Members of Parliament represent the 111 single-member electorates. The 20 provinces, the Autonomous Region of Bougainville and the National Capital District each elect a governor, who is also a representative in the parliament. Additionally there are 89 local ("Open") electorates, of which three are in the National Capital District and 86 are in the provinces, with boundaries of the latter corresponding directly to administrative districts. [1] [3]

The Electoral Boundaries Commission, reporting in February 2006, suggested an additional 26 Open electorates be created. Legally, electoral boundaries must be reviewed every ten years, but due to political instability, no review occurred for 30 years. The future of the provincial electorates is under debate.

Lady Carol Kidu, after being elected as the only female Member of Parliament in the 2007 general election, called for seats to be reserved for women to improve the representation of women in Parliament. She suggested that the 20 provincial seats could be reserved for women by the 2012 election. [4]

Electoral system

Candidates are elected using limited instant-runoff voting where the voter has to rank 3 candidates, known locally as Limited preferential voting. [5] A candidate has to have the majority of votes to be elected. If no one has an absolute majority of first preference votes, the candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated, and the votes are transferred to the voters next preferred candidate until one candidate has at least half of the remaining votes. The current system was first used for a by-election in 2003, [6] and subsequently for the 2007 Elections. Previously, first-past-the-post voting was used. [3]

Latest elections


See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Papua New Guinea</span>

The politics of Papua New Guinea takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic multi-party system, whereby the prime minister is the head of government. Papua New Guinea is an independent Commonwealth realm, with the monarch serving as head of state and a governor-general, nominated by the National Parliament, serving as their representative. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament.

An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, electorate, or (election) precinct, is a subdivision of a larger state created to provide its population with representation in the larger state's legislative body. That body, or the state's constitution or a body established for that purpose, determines each district's boundaries and whether each will be represented by a single member or multiple members. Generally, only voters (constituents) who reside within the district are permitted to vote in an election held there. District representatives may be elected by a first-past-the-post system, a proportional representative system, or another voting method. They may be selected by a direct election under universal suffrage, an indirect election, or another form of suffrage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Parliament of Papua New Guinea</span>

The National Parliament of Papua New Guinea is the unicameral national legislature in Papua New Guinea. It was created in 1964 as the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea but gained its current name after the nation was granted independence in 1975.

Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a voting method used in single-seat elections with more than two candidates. Instead of voting only for a single candidate, voters in IRV elections can rank the candidates in order of preference. Ballots are initially counted for each elector's top choice, losing candidates are eliminated, and ballots for losing candidates are redistributed until one candidate is the top remaining choice of a majority of the voters. When the field is reduced to two, it has become an "instant runoff" that allows a comparison of the top two candidates head-to-head.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Two-party-preferred vote</span> Result of election after distribution of preferences

In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, the Liberal/National Coalition is usually considered a single party, with Labor being the other major party. Typically the TPP is expressed as the percentages of votes attracted by each of the two major parties, e.g. "Coalition 50%, Labor 50%", where the values include both primary votes and preferences. The TPP is an indicator of how much swing has been attained/is required to change the result, taking into consideration preferences, which may have a significant effect on the result.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2007 Papua New Guinean general election</span>

General elections were held in Papua New Guinea from 30 June 2007 to 14 July 2007.

James Yapa Lagea is a Papua New Guinea politician. He has been a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since July 2007, representing the electorate of Kagua-Erave Open. He has been Vice-Minister for Health and HIV/AIDS in the government of Peter O'Neill since August 2012. He has variously been a member of the PNG Conservative Party (2007), National Alliance (2007–2010), United Resources Party (2010–2012) and Papua New Guinea Party (2012); although formally sitting in parliament as an independent during his second term, he has been prominently aligned with the People's United Assembly (2012–2014) and the People's National Congress (2014–present).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puka Temu</span> Papua New Guinean politician

Sir Puka Temu,, is a Papua New Guinean politician. He has been a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since 2002, representing the electorate of Abau Open. A former Deputy Prime Minister under Michael Somare, he is part of Prime Minister James Marape's government as a member of the Our Development Party.

Koni Iguan is a Papua New Guinea politician. He has been a Pangu Party member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since 2017, representing the Markham Open electorate. He formerly held the same seat from 2007 to 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral system</span> Method by which voters make a choice between options

An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections may take place in business, non-profit organisations and informal organisations. These rules govern all aspects of the voting process: when elections occur, who is allowed to vote, who can stand as a candidate, how ballots are marked and cast, how the ballots are counted, how votes translate into the election outcome, limits on campaign spending, and other factors that can affect the result. Political electoral systems are defined by constitutions and electoral laws, are typically conducted by election commissions, and can use multiple types of elections for different offices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2012 Papua New Guinean general election</span>

General elections were held in Papua New Guinea from 23 June until around 13 July 2012, after being postponed by a further week to allow for security personnel to criss-cross the country, particularly the highland provinces. The elections followed controversy over incomplete electoral rolls and a constitutional crisis caused by a dispute over the office of prime minister between Michael Somare and Peter O'Neill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delilah Gore</span>

Delilah Pueka Gore is a Papua New Guinean politician. She was a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 2012 to 2017, representing the electorate of Sohe Open. She was Minister for Higher Education, Science, Research and Technology and later Minister for Religion, Youth & Community Development in the government of Peter O'Neill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Papua New Guinean general election</span>

General elections were held in Papua New Guinea between 24 June and 8 July 2017. The writs for the election were issued on 20 April, and candidate nominations closed on 27 April.

Star Alliance Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea.

A presidential and parliamentary election was held in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville between 11 May and 25 May 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julie Soso</span>

Julie Soso Akeke is a Papua New Guinean politician. She was the Governor of Eastern Highlands Province from 2012 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Papua New Guinean general election</span>

General elections were held in Papua New Guinea from 4 to 22 July 2022 to elect the members of the National Parliament for a new five-year term.

Job Pomat CMG is a Papua New Guinean politician. He has represented the electorate of Manus Open in the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea on two separate occasions since 2007 and has been Speaker of the National Parliament since 2017.

Rufina Peter is a Papua New Guinean agricultural economist and politician. Until her election to the National Parliament on 5 August 2022, Papua New Guinea (PNG) was one of only three countries without a woman in parliament. She was also elected as Governor of Central Province in the 2022 general election, becoming the province's first female governor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Next Papua New Guinean general election</span>

General elections will be held in Papua New Guinea at some point in or before 2027 to elect members of the National Parliament.

References

  1. 1 2 "About Our Parliament". National Parliament of Papua New Guinea. Archived from the original on 27 July 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  2. ↑ Elections in Papua New Guinea Archived 2019-12-02 at the Wayback Machine IFES
  3. 1 2 "Papua New Guinea National Elections 2012: Final Report". Commonwealth of Nations. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "PNG MP wants dedicated seats for women". The Sydney Morning Herald. 23 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-25.
  5. ↑ "Voting". Electoral commission of Papua New Guinea. Archived from the original on 16 March 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  6. ↑ "PNG voting system praised by new MP". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 12 December 2003. Archived from the original on 4 January 2005. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.