1982 Papua New Guinean general election
General elections were held in Papua New Guinea between 5 and 26 June 1982.[1] The result was a victory for the Pangu Party, which won 51 of the 109 seats.[1] Voter turnout was 52%.
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All 109 seats in the National Parliament 55 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 New Guinea portal |
Campaign
A total of 1,125 candidates contested the election,[2] of which seventeen were women. Only one, Nahau Rooney, was elected. She had been standing for re-election, as had MPs Waliyato Clowes and Josephine Abaijah, who both lost their seats.[3]
Results
Following the elections, several elected MPs changed their party affiliation; the Pangu Party gained ten MPs to hold 61 seats and the National Party gained six MPs to hold 19. The People's Progress Party lost a seat, while the Melanesian Alliance lost two and the United Party lost three. All members of the Diro Independents Group left to join other parties, with no MPs left sitting as independents.[4]
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pangu Pati | 51 | +21 | |||
| National Party | 13 | +11 | |||
| People's Progress Party | 14 | –2 | |||
| United Party | 9 | –15 | |||
| Melanesian Alliance Party | 8 | New | |||
| Diro Independents Group | 7 | New | |||
| Papua Besena | 3 | –2 | |||
| Papua Action Party | 0 | New | |||
| Independents | 4 | –23 | |||
| Total | 109 | 0 | |||
| Total votes | 1,194,114 | – | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 2,309,621 | 51.70 | |||
| Source: IPU, Nohlen et al. | |||||
Aftermath
When the newly elected National Parliament met, Michael Somare was elected Prime Minister, defeating John Momis 66–40. Dennis Young was elected Speaker.[5]
| Position | Member |
|---|---|
| Prime Minister | Michael Somare |
| Deputy Prime Minister Minister of National Planning and Development Minister of Primary Industry | Paias Wingti |
| Minister of Commerce and Industry | Karl Stack |
| Minister of Correctional Services | Pundia Kange |
| Minister of Culture and Tourism | MacKenzie Jovoka |
| Minister of Decentralisation | John Nilkare |
| Minister of Defence | Epel Tito |
| Minister of Education | Barry Holloway |
| Minister of Environment and Conservation | Halalu Mai |
| Minister of Finance | Philip Bouraga |
| Minister of Foreign Relations and Trade | Rabbie Namaliu |
| Minister of Forests | Lukas Waka |
| Minister of Health | Martin Tovadek |
| Minister of Home Affairs | Roy Evara |
| Minister of Justice | Tony Bais |
| Minister of Labour and Employment | Kaspar Angua |
| Minister of Land | Bebes Korowaro |
| Minister of Media | Boyamo Sali |
| Minister of Minerals and Energy | Francis Didman |
| Minister of Parliamentary Services | Pita Lus |
| Minister of Police | John Giheno |
| Minister of Public Services | Anthony Siaguru |
| Minister of Public Utilities | Michael Pondros |
| Minister of Religion, Youth and Recreation | Tom Awasa |
| Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation | Matthew Bendumb |
| Minister of Urban Development | Kala Swokim |
| Minister of Works and Supply | Pato Kakarya |
References
- King, Peter. 1989. “Parties and Outcomes in the 1982 Elections.” In Pangu Returns to Power: The 1982 Elections in Papua New Guinea, edited by Peter King, 1–26. (Canberra: Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University), pp16–17
- Papua New Guinea IPU
- Sepoe, Orovu, "To make a difference: Realities of women’s participation in Papua New Guinea politics", Development Bulletin, no. 59, 2002, p.40. (Electronic version Archived 2009-09-13 at the Wayback Machine)
- Nohlen et al., p774
- "The Chief" regains his leadership after a bitter PNG campaign Pacific Islands Monthly, September 1982, pp15–17