Prime Minister James Marape of Papua New Guinea [Photo credit: Papua New Guinea Today]
This month, James Marape is re-elected as the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. Despite a general election that was scourged with moments of violence, death, destruction of infrastructure, and claims of election fraud, Marape is back in the office as the country's leader.
In the current election, Marape's Pangu Party earned at least 36 of 118 seats and is on the way to lead a coalition government that is composed of at least 17 different parties.
Another milestone for this election is that for the first time in several years, women candidates have been elected in Papua New Guinea's parliament government. [1]
One of them is Rufina Peter who is an economist and member of the main opposition party called People's National Congress. Peter will serve as governor for winning the Central Province electorate. She is one of the two women elected.
The election in some areas were almost declared as failed elections by the PNG police and electoral authorities due to some violent instances where a school and buildings were set on fire at the Enga Province. There were also attempts to remove ballot boxes in Hela Province. [1]
In a recent encounter with foreign media, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, PM Marape disagreed with their comment that PNG's lack of female representation in Parliament is a slow progress despite having Peter elected as Central Province Governor. [2]
The Prime Minister replied that Australia's first female in the Australian Parliament only happened after 40 years. Australia's federation started in 1901, but it was only in 1943 when there were females elected to Parliament. At that time, Dame Enid Lyons was elected to the House of Representatives, while Dorothy Tangney was elected to the Senate.
On the other hand, in Papua New Guinea, it only took three years for women to be a part of the Parliament.
Aside from Rufina Peter, Kessy Sawang for the Rai Coast open seat in Madang has been elected to Parliament in the 2022 National elections.
From 2012 until 2017, Papua New Guinea also had three women who represented in Parliament. They were Julie Soso of the Eastern Highlands, Delilah Gore for Sohe Open and Loujaya Tony representing Lae Open.
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Prime Minister James Marape was born on 24 April 1971 and has been serving as the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea since May 2019. Since July 2007, he has been a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea where he represented the electorate of Tari-Pori Open in Hela Province in the highlands. In the past, he held cabinet positions as Minister of Education from 2008 until 2011 and as Minister of Finance from 2012 until 2019.
Marape was born in Tari, Hela Province. He studied in Minj Primary School and Kabiufa Adventist Secondary School in the PNG highlands. Marape earned his degree in Bachelor of Arts from the University of Papua New Guinea in 1993 and a postgraduate Honours Degree in Environmental Science in 2000.
Outside of his political career, he was Officer in Charge at the PNG Institute of Medical Research, Tari Branch from 1994 until 1995. For two years (1996 - 1998), Marape was the Operations Manager of GDC at the Hides Gas project. After earning his honours degree, he became the Acting Assistant Secretary of Policy with the Department of Personnel Management from 2001 until 2006. (by Marcelle P. Villegas – PNG Business News)
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Reference:
[1] (10 Aug. 2022). "James Marape returns as Papua New Guinea prime minister". RNZ News website.
Retrieved from - https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/472591/james-marape-returns-as-papua-new-guinea-prime-minister
[2] (14 Aug. 2022). "PNG PM Marape slams Foreign Media". Papua New Guinea Today.
Retrieved from - https://news.pngfacts.com/2022/08/png-pm-marape-slams-foreign-media.html
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Photo credits: https://news.pngfacts.com/2022/08/png-pm-marape-slams-foreign-media.html
