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Turbulence and Reform in Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is one of the few postcolonial states that has managed to maintain an unbroken record of democratic government since independence. Parliamentary elections have gone forward regularly and on schedule up to and including the most recent polling, which was held in June 2002, 27 years after PNG went peacefully from Australian colonial administration to sovereign statehood. The 2002 elections were the sixth in the history of independent PNG. Although they were marred by serious irregularities, strife, and confusion, they eventually produced a coherent result: In August, Sir Michael Somare of the National Alliance (at 19 seats the largest single party in the 109-seat National Parliament) became prime minister at the head of an eight-party governing coalition. During its short history, PNG has been no stranger to political turmoil: No government, for instance, has ever endured for the full term of its mandate. Yet every turnover of power has followed constitutional procedures, and all such handoffs (most of them triggered by parliamentary votes of no confidence against the prime minister) have been accepted by both defeated members of parliament (MPs) and the general public. The judiciary has maintained its independence. Notwithstanding occasional tensions in relations between successive governments and some in the military, there has never been a coup or coup attempt. Freedom House ranks the country as “Free.” And yet: PNG exhibits many of the signs of a weak state—including limited capacity to deliver services and a poorly developed sense of national identity—and its political institutions seem to be growing R.J. May is senior fellow in the Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies and convenor of the Centre for Conflict and Post-Conflict Studies, Asia Pacfic, at the Australian National University in Canberra. He is a former director of the National Research Institute, Papua New Guinea.