Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a constitutional parliamentary democracy that follows the Westminster system. The National Parliament has 111 members who are elected every five years during the national general elections. Once the processes of voting and counting are done and the return of writs takes place, it signals the end of the election process and the start of government formation. Because no single political party typically wins a majority of the seats, parties start negotiating coalitions. These discussions involve talks about which parties will partner, who will be nominated as Prime Minister and how ministerial portfolios will be shared. 

Section 63 of PNG’s Organic Law on Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPAC) requires that the Governor General, who is the country’s head of state, invite the party with the highest number of Members of Parliament (MPs) to form the government. According to research and analysis published by the Australian National University, the passage of the OLIPAC has been shown to have influenced government formation. It has increased the probability, as it is now a legislative requirement that the PM comes from the largest party.  

One of the first orders of business when the new parliament convenes is the election of the Speaker of Parliament. The Speaker then presides over the election of the Prime Minister, who is voted for by the MPs as is by law. The nominated candidates for the Prime Minister’s seat are usually the leader of the party or coalition with a majority of seats in Parliament. All MPs vote by secret ballot, and a candidate must receive a majority of votes from MPs present in Parliament. In the instance that no candidate achieves a majority of at least 50%+ 1, additional rounds may occur until a candidate receives the required support. After the Prime Minister is elected by Parliament, the Governor General formally appoints the Prime Minister.

The newly appointed Prime Minister then selects Ministers to form the Cabinet. The Cabinet is sworn in by the Governor General. The government is now fully operational with the Prime Minister and Cabinet exercising executive powers.

As PNG continues to refine its democratic processes, what reforms do you think are needed to ensure the government formation truly reflects the will of the people?