Turmoil in PNG Parliament After Opposition Fails to Unseat PM in 4th Attempt

Members of the Parliament attend a session at the Parliament House in Port Moresby on May 28, 2024. (ANDREW KUTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

A fourth attempt by Papua New Guinea’s opposition parties to unseat Prime Minister James Marape has been disallowed by Parliament’s Speaker on a technicality, causing an uproar among MPs.

Since the defection of Rainbo Paita, Mr. Marape’s former leader of government business and finance minister, and 20 other MPs—including five government ministers—in late May, the Opposition has tried and failed to bring down the government.

The first attempt was in February this year, which was the earliest possible time for such a motion since PNG law bans no-confidence motions for 18 months after general elections.

The Opposition filed two notices for consideration by Parliament’s Private Business Committee (PBC)—the parliamentary committee that considers no-confidence motions—but both were rejected.

On May 29, they tried again but again failed to satisfy constitutional requirements, as there were only 11 signatures, while such a motion requires a minimum of 12. The PBC told them to fix the error, and a fourth notice was submitted on June 5.

That, too, failed. This time, the issue was the official names of the members who had signed the document. According to the Speaker, the surname had to come after the first name; some MPs had done it the opposite way.

Speaker to Seek Legal Advice

The Opposition disputed this amid noisy scenes in Parliament, with Western Province MP Maso Hewabi arguing that the name he was known by on ballot papers and the electoral writs was Hewabi Maso. Others said the issue could have been raised the first time they submitted the Notice of Motion.

Speaker Job Pomat has said he'll get legal advice on the issue and resign if he is proven wrong.

Parliament had begun discussing the Enga landslip and many members, including the Speaker, said they regretted that the vote of no confidence had distracted both Parliament and the wider public from that issue.

Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape (C) speaks during a press conference after a parliament session in Port Moresby on June 5, 2024. (Andrew Kutan/AFP via Getty Images)

Mr. Marape is seen as vulnerable not only because of the walkout of so many of his MPs to the opposition benches but because his authority is widely seen to have been damaged by the “Black Friday” riots of Jan. 10.

What started as a protest by police, defence force, and corrections staff over high deductions from their first pay of the year quickly escalated to looting and destruction of shops in Port Moresby as people took advantage of the lack of law enforcement.

The violence spread the next day to five other towns but was quelled by the rapid intervention of police.

But by then, more than 20 people had died, and many more were injured.

Retail companies had suffered millions of kina worth of damage in goods and property (1 kina = approximately 0.39 Australian cents). Hundreds of jobs were lost and many small businesses, including those of farmers who supply the supermarkets in the city, were badly affected.

While political intrigue plays out in every legislature, votes of no confidence are an intrinsic part of PNG politics, and plotting to overthrow the incumbent prime minister is considered a legitimate part of any MP’s activities.

This is largely due to the fact that, since 2002, the incumbent prime minister has been returned at every election, meaning that a vote of no confidence has effectively become the only way to replace a prime minister in PNG.

The Opposition’s next chance will be in early September after MPs voted to end the current session early.

Meanwhile, the government will use the recess to try to convince at least some of the defectors to return to its ranks.