Annex A: Political tables and figures

Table A1: PNG prime ministers, 1975–2024

Name	Term of office			Party
	Took office (reason)	Left office	Time in office
Michael Somare	16 September 1975 (Independence)	11 March 1980	4.48 years	Pangu Pati
Julius Chan	11 March 1980 (Vote of no confidence)	2 August 1982	2.39 years	People’s Progress Party
Michael Somare	2 August 1982 (General election)	21 November 1985	3.3 years	Pangu Pati
Paias Wingti	21 November 1985 (Vote of no confidence)	4 July 1988	2.62 years	People’s Democratic Movement
Rabbie Namaliu	4 July 1988 (Vote of no confidence)	17 July 1992	4.04 years	Pangu Pati
Paias Wingti	17 July 1992 (General election)	30 August 1994	2.12 years	People’s Democratic Movement
Julius Chan1	30 August 1994 (Resignation of previous prime minister)	22 July 1997	2.71 years	People’s Progress Party
Bill Skate	22 July 1997 (General election)	14 July 1999	1.98 years	People’s National Congress
Mekere Morauta	14 July 1999 (Resignation of previous prime minister)	5 August 2002	3.06 years	People’s Democratic Movement
Michael Somare	5 August 2002 (General election)	4 April 20112	8.40 years	National Alliance Party
Peter O’Neill	2 August 2011 (Parliament declared prime minister’s position to be vacant as Somare in long-term hospital stay; this was disputed by the courts, but O’Neill won the 2012 elections)	29 May 2019	7.82 years	People’s National Congress
James Marape	30 May 2019 (Resignation of previous prime minister)	Incumbent	Still in office as of end of 2024	Pangu Pati

Source: Authors’ research.

Table A2: Trends in Papua New Guinea elections, 1977–2022

Year	Average number of candidates per seat	Mean winner vote shares	Percentage of incumbents returned	Percentage of independents competing	Party with most seats (% seats)	Number of females elected
1977	8	35%	39%	No data	28%	3
1982	10	31%	52%	41%	47%	1
1987	14	26%	52%	67%	24%	0
1992	15	23%	46%	74%	18%	0
1997	22	20%	51%	73%	15%	2
2002	26	20%	26%	43%	17%	1
2007	25	33%	46%	No data	25%	1
2012	31	32%	44%	64%	24%	3
2017	30	34%	49%	57%	26%	0
2022	31	Unknown	62%	No data	33%	2

Notes: From 2007 onwards, limited preferential voting has been used, which has pushed up the mean winner voter share. There were 109 seats until the 2012 elections, and then 111 until the 2022 elections, and then 118.

Source: Wood (2017), Laveil (2021), Saffu (1988), Howes, Kabuni et al. (2022).

Table A3: Women in parliament

Name	Period in parliament	Party
Nahau Rooney	1977–87	Pangu/People’s Democratic Movement/Independent
Waliyato Clowes	1977–82	United Party/National Party/Papua Besena/Papuan Alliance
Josephine Abaijah	1972–82, 1997–2002	Papua Besena
Dame Carol Kidu	1997–2012	Independent
Delilah Gore	2012–17	Triumph Heritage Empowerment/People’s National Congress
Loujaya Kouza	2012–17	Triumph Heritage Empowerment
Julie Soso	2012–17	Triumph Heritage Empowerment/People’s National Congress
Kessy Sewang	2022–	People’s First Party/People’s Transformation Party
Rufina Peter	2022–	People’s National Congress
Francesca Semoso	2023–	Pangu

Source: Development Policy Centre (n.d.).

Figure A1: Constituency funding (adjusted for inflation), 1977–2022

Notes: Figures are actuals. Only district (open) MP funding included (such as the District Support Improvement Program).

Source: PNG Economic Database.

The provision of funding to be spent under the direction of MPs goes back to the eighties, increased in the nineties, and really took off in the boom years of the noughties. Due to fiscal constraints, it fell somewhat over the tens.

Figure A2: Freedom House ratings for PNG, 1975–2022

Notes: Both political rights and civil liberties are rated on a scale of 1–7 (where 1 is the highest). Based on both scores, countries are rated as free (F), partly free (PF) or not free. PNG was rated as free from independence to 1992 and then again from 1998 to 2002. Since 2002, as well as between 1993 and 1997, it has been rated as ‘partly free’. The decline in rating is due to, first, a higher (worse) civil liberties score, and, then, a worse political rights score. V-Dem (the Varieties of Democracy Project) permanently downgraded PNG from an electoral democracy to a partial democracy (‘electoral autocracy’) in 2007.

Source: Freedom House (n.d.).

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1. 1 Julius Chan stood down between 27 March and 2 June 1997 during the Sandline inquiry, during which time John Giheno was acting prime minister.

2. 2 Sam Abal was acting PM from 12 December 2010 to 17 January 2011 while Somare was facing Leadership Tribunal charges (7.2.3), and then again from 4 April 2011 due to the latter’s ill-health.