National Parliament of Papua New Guinea

National Parliament of Papua New Guinea
Type
Type	Unicameral
Structure
Seats	111 (2 vacant)
Political groups	Government (80)   People's National Congress Party: 51 seats   National Alliance Party: 11 seats   United Resources Party: 8 seats   People's Progress Party: 7 seats   People's Party: 2 seats   United Party: 1 seat Opposition (29)   Triumph Heritage Empowerment Rural Party: 6 seats   New Generation Party: 3 seats   Pangu Party: 3 seats   Papua New Guinea Party: 2 seats   People's Democratic Movement: 2 seats   People's United Assembly: 2 seats   Coalition for Reform: 1 seat   Melanesian Liberal Party: 1 seat   People's Movement for Change: 1 seat   Social Democratic Party: 1 seat   Star Alliance: 1 seat   Independents: 6 seats
Elections
Voting system	Instant-runoff voting
Last election	23 June-13 July 2012
Meeting place
Port Moresby
Website
www.parliament.gov.pg

Papua New Guinea
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Papua New Guinea
Monarch Elizabeth II Governor-General Michael Ogio Prime Minister Peter O'Neill Cabinet National Parliament Speaker: Theo Zurenuoc Political parties Recent elections General: 2002 2007 2012 Supreme Court Administrative divisions Provinces Districts and LLGs Foreign relations 2011–12 constitutional crisis Corruption
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The main entrance of the National Parliament building

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.

The 111 members of parliament serve five-year terms, 89 of whom are chosen from single-member "open" electorates, which are sometimes referred to as "seats" but are officially known as constituencies. The remaining 22 are chosen from single-member provincial electorates: the 20 provinces, the autonomous province of Bougainville (North Solomons), and the National Capital District. Each provincial member becomes governor of his province unless he takes a ministerial position, in which case the governorship passes to an open member of the province.^[1]

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 Morauta introduced Limited Preferential Voting, in which voters numbered three preferred candidates. LPV was first used nationally in the 2007 election.^[2]

As in other Commonwealth realms, the party or coalition with the most seats in the parliament is invited by the Governor-General to form a government, and its leader subsequently becomes Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. The Prime Minister then appoints his cabinet from fellow parliament members. (Members of parliament are seated in a similar manner to other Westminster system parliaments, but use chairs instead of benches.)

Papua New Guinea has a fractious political culture, and no party in the history of parliament has yet won a majority.^[1] Therefore, negotiations between parties have always been necessary to form governments. New governments are protected from votes of no confidence during their first 18 months and during the last 12 months before a national election. More recently, in a move aimed at further minimizing no-confidence motions, then-Prime Minister Mekere Morauta introduced changes that prevented members of the government from voting in favour of such a motion.

All citizens over the age of 18 may vote, although voting is not compulsory.^[3]

Latest election

See also

• Elections in Papua New Guinea
• List of Speakers of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea
• Members of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea, 2002–2007
• Members of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea, 2007-2012
• List of legislatures by country
• Politics of Papua New Guinea

References

External links

• Official website