 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(October 2016) |
United Party | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Rimbink Pato [1] |
| President | Chris Kopyoto [1] |
| Secretary | Mathew Taso [1] |
| Political position | Centre-right |
| National Parliament | 1 / 111 |
The United Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea. As of May 2019, it has one seat in the National Parliament and is led by Minister for Foreign Affairs, Rimbink Pato.
There were attempts from 1964 to 1968 to form political parties. A meeting was held in Port Moresby and a Territory Country Party, organised along the lines of the Australian Country Party, was formed in 1967.
The connection between Australian Country Party and political parties in PNG was through the Compass Party (later United Party). Despite talks and media release, the Compass Party was formed in Minj in 1967 by certain expatriate and indigenous Members of the House of Assembly who were aligned with the farmers and planters association, the Highlands Farmers & Settlers Association Incorporated (HFSA). Members of HFSA in Parliament were Ian Downs, Highlands Special (President of HFSA), John Watts (WH Regional), Mike Casey (Kainantu), Sinake Giregire (Goroka) (first indigenous member of HFSA). The prominent national being Giregire and Members from Simbu and EH.
After its formation, Tei Abal (Wabag) was appointed its Leader with Giregire as Deputy. The United went into 1968 Elections and returned as a force against the pro independence, Pangu Party. As the Party was conservative, most of its Members were appointed Ministers and Vice Ministers. The Party went again to the polls in 1972 and returned and with the self-government in 1973, Tei Abal and Sinake Giregire and Paul Langro were on the Constitutional Planning Committee.
The third Party was the Peoples Progress Party (1970) under Julius Chan (Namatanai). At this time, the Australian Country Party sent an officer to PNG to assist the United Party in establishing its working structure. This ACP officer was in Eastern Highlands (Goroka) and so Giregire took on the advantage of the Australian canvassing and organisational assistance to form a PNG version of the Australian Country Party. Using the Constitutional Planning Committee (a faction calling itself the Nationalist Pressure Group - Giregire, Fr. John Momis and John Kaputin) Giregire canvassed support to bring a fourth force with Members from United Party and Pangu Pati to form Country Party which was formally recognized on the floor of Parliament in March 1974. The Country Party had 14 Members under the leadership of Sir Sinake Giregire (MP for Goroka and later Daulo) and Michael Pondros (Manus).
The role of Country Party featured prominently in the Constituent Assembly when it was more or was taking the lead in the Nationalist Pressure Group (Momis, Kaputin and Giregire) who wanted to present the CPC Report as it is to become the Constitution and on one hand Somare and Pangu who wanted amendments such as dropping the Provincial Government system.
This followed on with Melanesian Alliance Party under Fr. John Momis and the Mataungan Association taking a political party status with John Kaputin and Oscar Tammur on floor of Parliament.
Despite the breakup, United Party contested the 1977 Elections and came with a majority of Members but Pangu formed a Coalition with PPP, National Party, Melanesian Alliance and Mataungan against United/Country Party with Michael Somare as Prime Minister.
Country Party, United Party and National Party were seen as a Highlands dominated Party. To break that stronghold Somare appointed Paias Wingti as his Deputy Leader in 1982. Wingti then broke ranks with Pangu and with other Members including from United Party formed Peoples Democratic Movement in 1985.
With the loss of Sir Tei Abal, Leader of United Party in 1987, leadership tussle came into play with Roy Evara, Anton Parao, Paul Torato and others.
Gradually, the fortunes of United Party waned in 1992 and 1997 Elections. In 1997 Elections it had only one MP in Gabia Gagarimambu. In 2002, it had three MP's in Bire Kimisopa (Goroka), Bob Dadae (Kabwum) and Ben Kiagi (Daulo). The party went to the 2007 National Elections under leadership of Hon. Kimisopa but returned with two out of 109 seats in the 2007 General Elections.
At the 2002 elections, the party won 3 seats in the 109-seat national parliament. The party leader for the 2002–2007 term was Bire Kimisopa, member for Goroka Open, in Eastern Highlands province.
In the 2007 elections, the party won 2 seats in parliament. Kimisopa was replaced as party leader on 22 August 2007, having lost his seat. He was replaced as leader by Bob Dadae, member for Kabwum Open in Morobe Province. [2] Dadae crossed to the People's National Congress in May 2012, stating that his people wanted him to be aligned with a major party. [3]
The party won one seat at the 2012 election, with Rimbink Pato winning Wapenamanda Open and assuming the United Party leadership. [4]
The People's Democratic Movement is a political party in Papua New Guinea.
The Pangu Pati, officially Papua na Niugini Yunion Pati, is a nationalist and developmentalist political party on the centre-left in Papua New Guinea.The party is the oldest political party in Papua New Guinea and has held all levels of government throughout its history. As of 2023, it is the largest party in the National Parliament.
Paias Wingti is a Papua New Guinean politician. He served as the third prime minister of Papua New Guinea between 1985 and 1988, and again from 1992 to 1994.
The Melanesian Alliance Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea.
The People's Labour Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea.
The People's National Congress is a political party in Papua New Guinea. Its former leader Bill Skate served as Prime Minister from 1997 to 1999 and as speaker of Parliament from 2002 to 2004. Skate died in 2006 and the party was led by Peter O'Neill until 2022. PNC originated from the National Capital District where former leader was the Governor of NCD and the Parliamentary Member. The party had 16 members in the 113-seat National Parliament of Papua New Guinea as of December 2022.
The National Alliance Party has operated as a political party in Papua New Guinea since 1995. As of May 2019, the party had 11 members in the 111-seat National Parliament of Papua New Guinea, and was part of the Alliance Accord for Change, opposition to the O'Neill led government for Papua New Guinea's 10th Parliament.
The United Resources Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea.
The New Generation Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea.
The Papua New Guinea Country Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea. It was founded in 1974.
General elections were held in Papua New Guinea between 18 June and 9 July 1977, the first since independence from Australia in 1975. The Pangu Party led by Prime Minister Michael Somare emerged as the largest in the National Parliament. Somare subsequently formed a coalition government with the People's Progress Party (PPP) and several independent MPs. Voter turnout was 60.3%.
John Momis is a Bougainvillean politician who served as the President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea between 2010 and 2020.
Samuel Tei Abal is a Papua New Guinean politician. Abal, who previously served as Foreign Minister from August 2007 to December 2010, became the Deputy Prime Minister of the country in a cabinet reshuffle by Michael Somare on 7 December 2010. He further became acting Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea on 13 December 2010, when Prime Minister Somare stepped down from office to face a tribunal regarding allegations of financial mismanagement. His tenure as acting Prime Minister ended on 2 August 2011, when Peter O'Neill won a parliamentary vote to be appointed as Prime Minister. Since October 2021, he is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Papua New Guinea to Japan.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs is a cabinet minister in Papua New Guinea who is responsible for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In recent years, the Foreign Affairs portfolio has been increasingly tied to the Trade portfolio, and as such recent ministers are generally known as the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Robert Sandan Ganim is a Papua New Guinean politician. He was a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 2012 to 2017, representing the electorate of Wabag Open for the People's Party (2012-2017) and the People's National Congress (2017).
Bire Kimisopa is a Papua New Guinean politician. He was a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 2002 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2017, both times representing the seat of Goroka Open. He was Minister for Internal Security (2003–2006) and Minister for Justice (2006–2007) in Michael Somare's third government. He was the leader of the United Party from 2002 to 2007 and leader of the New Generation Party from 2016 to 2017.
Julie Soso Akeke is a Papua New Guinean politician. She was the Governor of Eastern Highlands Province from 2012 to 2017.
General elections were held in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea between 19 February and 11 March 1972. They saw the election of the country's first female MP, Josephine Abaijah.
Sir Tei Abal was a member of the parliament of Papua New Guinea (PNG) between 1964 and 1982, during which time he both served as a government minister in several positions and was leader of the opposition. He was known as an unsuccessful advocate of slowing down the process of PNG's Independence, because he considered that the population from the Highlands areas, of which he was one, were unready for independence.
Leader of the Opposition is a constitutionally sanctioned office in Papua New Guinea. It originates from Westminster role for a leader of the opposition.
