Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia. It shares its only land border with Indonesia to the west and it is directly adjacent to Australia to the south and the Solomon Islands to the east. Its capital, located along its southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The country is the world's third largest island country, with an area of 462,840 km2 (178,700 sq mi).
The prehistory of Papua New Guinea can be traced to about 50,000–60,000 years ago, when people first migrated towards the Australian continent. The written history began when European navigators first sighted New Guinea in the early part of the 17th century.
The politics of Papua New Guinea takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic multi-party system, whereby the prime minister is the head of government. Papua New Guinea is an independent Commonwealth realm, with the monarch serving as head of state and a governor-general, nominated by the National Parliament, serving as their representative. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament.
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.
Papua New Guinea elects on the national level a legislature. The National Parliament has 111 members, elected for a five-year term in single-seat constituencies. Papua New Guinea has a multi-party system, with numerous parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments. The first-past-the-post voting system was previously used, but in 2002 the limited instant-runoff voting system was enacted into law and first used during the 2007 national election and 2008 local elections.
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 National Executive Council (NEC), also known as the Cabinet of Papua New Guinea functions as the policy and decision-making body of the executive branch within the government system of Papua New Guinea. The Prime Minister and Ministers serve as members of the Cabinet.
James Marape is a Papua New Guinean politician who has served as the prime minister of Papua New Guinea since May 2019. He has been a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since July 2007, representing the electorate of Tari-Pori Open in Hela Province in the New Guinea Highlands. He has held Cabinet Posts as Minister of Education (2008–2011), Minister of Finance (2012–2019), and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2023–present). Marape entered the 2022 elections under the banner of the Pangu Party and won more seats than any other party. He was therefore entitled to form the government. His new government was elected unopposed by the new parliament.
The monarchy of Papua New Guinea is a system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of Papua New Guinea. The current Papua New Guinean monarch and head of state, since 8 September 2022, is King Charles III. As sovereign, he is the personal embodiment of the Papua New Guinean Crown. Although the person of the sovereign is equally shared with 14 other independent countries within the Commonwealth of Nations, each country's monarchy is separate and legally distinct. As a result, the current monarch is officially titled King of Papua New Guinea and, in this capacity, he and other members of the royal family undertake public and private functions domestically and abroad as representatives of Papua New Guinea. However, the King is the only member of the royal family with any constitutional role.
Sir Puka Temu,, is a Papua New Guinean politician. He has been a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since 2002, representing the electorate of Abau Open. A former Deputy Prime Minister under Michael Somare, he is part of Prime Minister James Marape's government as a member of the Our Development Party.
Luther Akisawa Wenge is a Papua New Guinean politician. He is Governor of Morobe Province and a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea as a member of the Pipol First Party from 1997 to 2012. After 10 years, he reclaimed his old Parliamentary seat in the 2022 National Elections this time under the People's Labour Party.
Belden Namah is a Papua New Guinean politician. Namah is a member of the National Parliament for the Papua New Guinea Party, and has represented Vanimo-Green River District since 2007. He served in the Cabinet from 2007 to 2010, and as Deputy Prime Minister from 2011 to 2012. In 2012, Namah became a member of the opposition. After retaining his seat in the 2022 election, he said that he would not rejoin the opposition.
Samuel H. Basil was a Papua New Guinean politician. He was a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 2007, representing the electorate of Bulolo Open, until his death in 2022. From 8 June 2019, to August 2019 Basil served as the Treasurer of Papua New Guinea.
Patrick Pruaitch, CMG is a Papua New Guinea politician who represented the Aitape-Lumi constituency in the West Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea in the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 2002 to 2022. He was a Cabinet Minister with few interruptions from 2002–2010 and from 2012–2017. From November 2019–November 2020, he was Minister for Foreign Affairs. From 2017–2019 and 2020-2022 he was Leader of the Opposition. He was twice – in 2019 and 2020 – alternate PM in unsuccessful attempts to unseat the government.
Winnie Anna Kiap is a Papua New Guinean former diplomat who served as the Papua New Guinea High Commissioner to the United Kingdom with accreditation to Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, South Africa, and Zimbabwe from 2011 to 2022. In 2022, she was a nominated as a candidate for Governor-General of Papua New Guinea.
Bryan Jared Kramer is a Papua New Guinea politician and Member of the 10th and 11th Parliament of Papua New Guinea. Formerly a member of the Pangu Party, he founded the Allegiance Party, of which he was the sole MP, in 2018. He ran nine candidates in the 2022 National Elections, including one in each of Madang's seven electorates. Kramer was returned with a sizeable majority, but was unsuccessful in securing the election of another Party member. He was suspended from office on 30 September 2022 pending the outcomes of a leadership tribunal. On Tuesday 28 February 2023 the three-man bench unanimously found Kramer guilty of seven counts against him. A three-man bench recommended dismissal for two counts of "scandalising the judiciary" and fines totalling K10,000 (USD3,000) for five counts related to use of district funds. Kramer was dismissed from office by the Governor General on 24 May 2023. He will not be able to re-contest an election for five years, allowing him to compete in the 2032 election. A by-election for Madang Open will be held in 2024.
General elections were held in Papua New Guinea from 4 to 22 July 2022 to elect the members of the National Parliament for a new five-year term.
Job Pomat CMG is a Papua New Guinean politician. He has represented the electorate of Manus Open in the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea on two separate occasions since 2007 and has been Speaker of the National Parliament since 2017.
Events in the year 2022 in Papua New Guinea.
