The Bougainville People's Congress was a pro-independence organisation and later

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or po ...

in the

Autonomous Region of Bougainville Bougainville ( ; ; Tok Pisin: ''Bogenvil''), officially the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (Tok Pisin: ''Otonomos Region bilong Bogenvil''), is an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea. The largest island is Bougainville Island, while the r ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

History

It was established in the late 1990s as a representative body during the

Bougainville Civil War The Bougainville conflict, also known as the Bougainville Civil War, was a multi-layered armed conflict fought from 1988 to 1998 in the North Solomons Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG) between PNG and the secessionist forces of the Bougainvil ...

, and was led by former Premier

Joseph Kabui Joseph Canisius Kabui (1954 – 7 June 2008) was a secessionist leader and the first President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, off the coast of Papua New Guinea, from 2005 to 2008. He was also the leader of the Bougainville People's C ...

. In the lead-up to autonomy for Bougainville, Kabui opposed the introduction of political parties into the province, stating "the people of Bougainville regard political parties as divisive and given the hate, killings, ill-feelings and divisions that existed during the 10-year-old violent crisis on the island, the leaders of Bougainville do not want political parties to come in and divide the people once again". In February 2005, it was recognised as a "consultative and advisory body" to the Interim Bougainville Provincial Government ahead of the first elections later that year. Although Kabui had a stated dislike for political parties, the BPC was registered as a party for the inaugural 2005 election. Kabui ran for the new position of

President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville The President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville governs the island, which is an autonomous entity within Papua New Guinea. List of presidents of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville The first President of Bougainville was Joseph Kabui ...

and won, while party members performed well in the

Bougainville House of Representatives The Bougainville House of Representatives is the legislature of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, an autonomous entity within Papua New Guinea. It was established in 2005 under Part 5 of the region's constitution, which specifies that the Ho ...

. Kabui served as the first President of Bougainville from June 2005 until his death on June 7, 2008."Bougainville president Kabui dies"
theage.com.au, June 7, 2008. The party did not contest the 2015 election.

References

Political parties in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville *Main {{PapuaNewGuinea-party-stub