General elections were held in

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

between 18 June and 9 July 1977, the first since independence from Australia in 1975. The

Pangu Party The Pangu Pati (Pangu Party), officially Papua na Niugini Yunion Pati (), is a nationalist and developmentalist political party in Papua New Guinea. The party is the oldest political party in Papua New Guinea and has held all levels of government ...

led by Prime Minister

Michael Somare Sir Michael Thomas Somare (9 April 1936 – 25 February 2021) was a Papua New Guinean politician. Widely called the " father of the nation" (), he was the first Prime Minister after independence. At the time of his death, Somare was also the lo ...

emerged as the largest in the

National Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. Somare subsequently formed a coalition government with the

People's Progress Party The People's Progress Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea. It was founded on 11 November 1969 by Julius Chan and Warren Dutton, forming a caucus of eleven members of the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea. Following indepe ...

(PPP) and several independent MPs. Voter turnout was 60.3%.

Background

The usual four-year term of the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...

was extended to five years shortly before independence, pushing back elections to the renamed National Parliament from 1976 to mid-1977. However, in June 1976 Prime Minister

proposed holding early elections in November 1976. Although the proposal was approved by a vote of 45 to 40 in parliament, at least half of the 104 MPs were required to vote in favour for the motion to pass. Prior to the elections, the electoral system was changed from

single transferable vote The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vot ...

first-past-the-post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

Campaign

Just under 900 candidates contested the elections, with between two and 21 candidates in each constituency. Ten candidates were women. Polling in the Abau Open constituency was postponed due to the death of a candidate.PNG's elections: A cliffhanger and a lesson for the future
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', September 1977, pp16–17

Results

Three women – Nahau Rooney, Waliyato Clowes and

Josephine Abaijah Dame Josephine Abaijah, (born 23 June 1940) is a Papua New Guinean former politician. She was the first woman to be elected to the House of Assembly in 1972. Biography Born in Misima and one of 17 children, Abaijah began working in the Depart ...

– were elected, a number not repeated until

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

.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
) Nine ministers lost their seats, a number that increased to ten when

Reuben Taureka Reuben or Reuven is a Biblical male first name from Hebrew רְאוּבֵן (Re'uven), meaning "behold, a son". In the Bible, Reuben was the firstborn son of Jacob. Variants include Reuvein in Yiddish or as an English variant spelling on the ...

was defeated in the delayed contest in Abau. Following the elections, most of the independents joined parties at the first sitting of parliament, with Pangu gaining a further ten seats, the PPP four and Papua Besena and the United Party one, leaving eleven members sitting as independents.

Aftermath

Following the elections, Michael Somare was elected Prime Minister, defeating John Guise (who was supported by the United Party) by 69 votes to 36. Somare established a coalition government of the

, the

and some independent members, forming an 18-member cabinet. Kingsford Dibela was elected

Speaker Speaker most commonly refers to: * Speaker, a person who produces speech * Loudspeaker, a device that produces sound ** Computer speakers Speaker, Speakers, or The Speaker may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Speaker" (song), by David ...

and Tei Abal of the United Party became

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

.Somare leads a new look team
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', September 1977, p9 Later in 1977, Somare appointed four additional ministers; Yano Belo (PPP) as Minister for Works and Supply,

Thomas Kavali Sir Thomas Kavali was a politician from Jimi District of Jiwaka Province, Papua New Guinea. He held various ministries portfolio and served under Sir Michael Somare Sir Michael Thomas Somare (9 April 1936 – 25 February 2021) was a Papua New G ...

(Independent) as Minister for Housing,

Karl Kitchens Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl of Austria, last Austrian Emperor * Karl (footballer) (born 1993), Karl Cachoe ...

as Minister for Minerals and Energy and Nahau Rooney (Independent) as Minister for Corrective Institutions and Liquor Licensing.Somare's team grows
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', October 1977, p20 Rooney became the first woman to hold a cabinet portfolio in Papua New Guinea.

Background

Campaign

Results

Aftermath

See also

References

Related links