Editing Politics of Papua New Guinea (section)

== Instability ==
[[File:Peter O'Neill May 2015.jpg|thumb|Peter O'Neill]]
[[File:Michael Somare 2014.jpg|thumb|Michael Somare]]
The [[Mekere Morauta|Morauta government]] brought in a series of electoral reforms in 2001, designed to address instability and [[Corruption in Papua New Guinea|corruption]]. Among the reforms was the introduction of the Limited Preferential Vote system (LPV), a modified version of [[Instant-runoff voting|Alternative vote]], for future elections in PNG. (The introduction of LPV was partly in response to calls for changes in the voting system by [[Transparency International]] and the [[European Union]].) The first general election to use LPV was held in 2007.

There are many parties, but party allegiances are weak. Winning candidates are usually courted in efforts to forge the majority needed to form a government, and allegiances are fluid. No single party has yet won enough seats to form a government in its own right.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/oceania/png-political-parties.htm|title = Political Parties}}</ref>

Papua New Guinea has a history of changes in government coalitions and leadership from within Parliament during the five-year intervals between national elections. New governments are protected by law from votes of no confidence for the first 18 months of their incumbency, and no votes of no confidence may be moved in the 12 months preceding a national election.

On [[Bougainville Island]], a rebellion occurred from early 1989 until a truce came into effect in October 1997 and a permanent cease-fire was signed in April 1998. Under the eyes of a regional peace-monitoring force and a [[United Nations]] observer mission, the government and provincial leaders established an interim government and made efforts toward toward election of a provincial government and a referendum on independence, the latter of which occurred in 2019. [[Michael Somare]] was reelected Prime Minister, a position he also held in the country's first parliament after independence, in 2002, where he won amidst violence-marred polling. Supplementary elections were held in Southern Highlands province in June 2003 after record levels of electoral fraud and intimidation during the 2002 polls.

A study by the [[Australian Strategic Policy Institute]], entitled "Strengthening our neighbour: Australia and the future of Papua New Guinea" and published in December 2004 found that PNG's weak government and [[police|policing]] has allowed [[organized crime]] [[gang]]s to relocate from [[Southeast Asia]] in recent years.