The 2007 Elections in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

In June-July 2007 Papua New Guinea held its seventh post-independence national election. Papua New Guinea remains one of the few post-colonial states with an unbroken record of national elections held on schedule and producing popularly accepted overall results. In 2007 the country maintained this record, successfully completing its seventh election and producing yet another broadly-based coalition government, under the continuing leadership of Sir Michael Somare. As in previous elections in this geographically challenging and socially fractious country, the election in 2007 was marked by problems of logistics, electoral irregularities, and sporadic violence, but less so than in 2002. As outlined below, Papua New Guinea has made a smooth transition to preferential voting, although a number of issues need to be addressed before the next election in 2012. Show more