Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea

The prime minister of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea (Template:Langx) is Papua New Guinea's head of government, elected by the National Parliament and formally appointed by the Governor-General of Papua New Guinea. The prime minister serves as the head of his party, the head of the coalition government, and the chairman of the National Executive Council.

Constitutional basis

The prime minister is chosen by the National Parliament and then formally appointed by the governor-general. Section 142 of the Constitution of Papua New Guinea provides for the election of a prime minister to occur at the first meeting of parliament after a general election. In the event of a vacancy in the office, the speaker of the national parliament must immediately call a meeting of parliament if it is not in session and proceed to the election of a new prime minister.<ref name=s142>Template:Cite wikisource</ref>

Where the parliament passes a motion of no confidence in the prime minister in accordance with section 145 of the constitution, the governor-general must dismiss the prime minister from office. The prime minister may also be removed by the governor-general if the parliament determines they are unfit for office on health grounds,<ref name=s142/> or may resign voluntarily in accordance with section 146 of the constitution.<ref>Template:Cite wikisource</ref>

History

The office of Prime Minister was preceded by the Chief Minister of Papua and New Guinea.

2011–2012 constitutional crisis

From December 2011, the office was disputed between Peter O'Neill of the People's National Congress Party and Sir Michael Somare of the National Alliance Party; the latter eventually supported O'Neill as Prime Minister on 3 August 2012, thus ending the constitutional crisis.

Department of the Prime Minister

The Department of the Prime Minister has the task of providing administrative services to the restoration exercise as well as advising the Prime Minister and other government leaders. After a July 1995 cabinet reshuffle by Julius Chan, functions of the department were expanded.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Office

The office of the prime minister and other key government offices were initially located in Konedobu before being relocated to Waigani shortly after independence in 1975. Since April 2024, the Prime Minister's Office has been located at the newly-constructed Melanesia Haus, located opposite the main entrance to the National Parliament House.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

List of prime ministers of Papua New Guinea (1975–present)

Political parties

Status

Template:Abbr	Portrait	Name Template:Small	Election	Term of office			Political party
				Took office	Left office	Time in office
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 1		Michael Somare Template:Small	1977	16 September 1975	11 March 1980	Template:Ayd	Pangu<ref name=statedept>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=dorney>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=may>Template:Cite book</ref>
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 2		Sir Julius Chan Template:Small	—	11 March 1980	2 August 1982	Template:Ayd	PPP<ref name=statedept /><ref name=dorney />
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| (1)		Michael Somare Template:Small	1982	2 August 1982	21 November 1985	Template:Ayd	Pangu<ref name=statedept /><ref name=dorney /><ref name=may />
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 3		Paias Wingti Template:Small	1987	21 November 1985	4 July 1988	Template:Ayd	PDM<ref name=statedept /><ref name=dorney />
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 4		Sir Rabbie Namaliu Template:Small	—	4 July 1988	17 July 1992	Template:Ayd	Pangu<ref name=statedept /><ref name=dorney />
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| (3)		Paias Wingti Template:Small	1992	17 July 1992	30 August 1994	Template:Ayd	PDM<ref name=dorney />
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| (2)		Sir Julius Chan Template:Small	—	30 August 1994	27 March 1997	Template:Ayd	PPP<ref name=dorney /><ref name=may />
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 5		John Giheno Template:Small	—	27 March 1997	2 June 1997	Template:Ayd	PPP
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| (2)		Sir Julius Chan Template:Small	—	2 June 1997	22 July 1997	Template:Ayd	PPP<ref name=dorney /><ref name=may />
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 6		Bill Skate Template:Small	1997	22 July 1997	14 July 1999	Template:Ayd	PNC<ref name=dorney /><ref name=may />
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 7		Sir Mekere Morauta Template:Small	—	14 July 1999	5 August 2002	Template:Ayd	PDM<ref name=may />
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| (1)		Sir Michael Somare Template:Small	2002 2007	5 August 2002	4 April 2011	Template:Ayd	NAP<ref name=statedept />
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| —		Sam Abal Template:Small Template:Small	—	13 December 2010	17 January 2011	Template:Ayd	NAP<ref name=statedept />
—			4 April 2011	2 August 2011	Template:Ayd
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 8		Peter O'Neill Template:Small	2012 2017	2 August 2011	29 May 2019	Template:Ayd	PNC
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white"| 9		James Marape Template:Small	2022	30 May 2019	Incumbent	Template:Ayd	Pangu

Timeline

This is a graphical lifespan timeline of prime ministers of Papua New Guinea. They are listed in order of office (Somare, Chan, and Wingti are shown in order of their first premierships).

<timeline> Define $width = 1000 # 4 pixels per year ($end - $start) × 4 Define $warning = 880 # $width - 120 Define $height = 350 # 9 × 25 + 150 Define $footnote = 800 # $width - 400

Define $start = 1934 Define $end = 2025 Define $now = 2025

ImageSize = width:$width height:$height PlotArea = right:10 left:1 bottom:80 top:60 Period = from:$start till:$end TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal Legend = orientation:vertical columns:1 left:0 top:50 columnwidth:500

Colors =

    id:bg                 value:white
    id:lightline          value:rgb(0.8, 0.8, 0.8)
    id:lighttext          value:rgb(0.5, 0.5, 0.5)
    id:LIFESPAN           value:rgb(0.88, 0.90, 0.70) Legend: Lifespan
    id:PM_PP              value:rgb(0.31, 0.76, 0) Legend: Pangu_Pati
    id:PM_PPP             value:rgb(0.92, 0.35, 0.29) Legend: PPP
    id:PM_PDM             value:rgb(0.06, 0.88, 0.95) Legend: PDM
    id:PM_PNC             value:rgb(0.16, 0.15, 0.21) Legend: PNC
    id:PM_NAP             value:rgb(1, 0.84, 0) Legend: NAP
    id:NAME               value:rgb(0.15, 0.13, 0.05)
    id:TODAY              value:green

BackgroundColors = canvas:bg ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightline unit:year increment:1 start:$start ScaleMajor = gridcolor:lighttext unit:year increment:10 start:1940

Define $dy = -5 # shift text to button side of bar

LineData=

  at:$now color:TODAY width:0.1

PlotData=

 bar:1 width:18
   color:LIFESPAN align:center fontsize:M
   from:1936 till:1975 shift:(-0,$dy) textcolor:NAME text:Michael Somare
   color:PM_PP
   from:1975 till:1980
   color:LIFESPAN
   from:1980 till:1982
   color:PM_PP
   from:1982 till:1985
   color:LIFESPAN
   from:1985 till:2002
   color:PM_NAP
   from:2002 till:2011
   color:LIFESPAN
   from:2011 till:2021

 bar:2 width:18
   color:LIFESPAN align:center fontsize:M
   from:1939 till:1980 shift:(-0,$dy) textcolor:NAME text:Julius Chan
   color:PM_PPP
   from:1980 till:1982
   color:LIFESPAN
   from:1982 till:1994
   color:PM_PPP
   from:1994 till:1997
   color:LIFESPAN
   from:1997 till:1997.4
   color:PM_PPP
   from:1997.4 till:1997.8
   color:LIFESPAN
   from:1997.8 till:2025

 bar:3 width:18
   color:LIFESPAN align:center fontsize:M
   from:1951 till:1985 shift:(-0,$dy) textcolor:NAME text:Paias Wingti
   color:PM_PDM
   from:1985 till:1988
   color:LIFESPAN
   from:1988 till:1992
   color:PM_PDM
   from:1992 till:1994
   color:LIFESPAN
   from:1994 till:$now

 bar:4 width:18
   color:LIFESPAN align:center fontsize:M
   from:1947 till:1988 shift:(-0,$dy) textcolor:NAME text:Rabbie Namaliu
   color:PM_PP
   from:1988 till:1992
   color:LIFESPAN
   from:1992 till:2023

 bar:5 width:18
   color:LIFESPAN align:center fontsize:M
   from:1949 till:1997 shift:(-0,$dy) textcolor:NAME text:John Giheno
   color:PM_PPP
   from:1997 till:1997.4
   color:LIFESPAN
   from:1997.4 till:2017

 bar:6 width:18
   color:LIFESPAN align:center fontsize:M
   from:1953 till:1997.8 shift:(-0,$dy) textcolor:NAME text:Bill Skate
   color:PM_PNC
   from:1997.8 till:1999
   color:LIFESPAN
   from:1999 till:2006

 bar:7 width:18
   color:LIFESPAN align:center fontsize:M
   from:1946 till:1999 shift:(-0,$dy) textcolor:NAME text:Mekere Morauta
   color:PM_PDM
   from:1999 till:2002
   color:LIFESPAN
   from:2002 till:2020

 bar:8 width:18
   color:LIFESPAN align:center fontsize:M
   from:1965 till:2011 shift:(-0,$dy) textcolor:NAME text:Peter O'Neill
   color:PM_PNC
   from:2011 till:2019
   color:LIFESPAN
   from:2019 till:$now

 bar:9 width:18
   color:LIFESPAN align:center fontsize:M
   from:1971 till:2019 shift:(-0,$dy) textcolor:NAME text:James Marape
   color:PM_PP
   from:2019 till:$now

TextData =

 fontsize:M
 textcolor:green
 pos:($warning,30)
 text:Updated 12/2025

TextData =

  pos:(200,$height)
  fontsize:L
  textcolor:black
  text:"Lifespan and terms of office of each Papua New Guinean Prime Minister"

</timeline>

See also

• Monarch of Papua New Guinea
• Governor-General of Papua New Guinea