The failures of the organic law on the integrity of political parties and candidates

Abstract

Papua New Guinea (PNG) had its democratic institutions and processes established during the 1960’s. This process began with the establishment of the Legislative Council in 1959 and later the House of Assembly in 1964. The discussion of the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPPAC) relates to political parties and candidates, therefore a brief mention will be made on the historical evolution of political parties in Papua New Guinea. Political parties first emerged in Papua New Guinea in 1967. Two of the earliest parties were the Pangu Party and the United Party. Political parties in the history of PNG first contested the 1968 national election (Moore and Kooyman, 1998). The emergence of the different groups that later became political parties became sporadic which brought about the multiparty nature of the party system in the country. During the 1972 election, new political groups such as the People’s Progress Party, National Party, Melanesian Alliance and other smaller groups emerged and contested the election. Other groups based on nationalistic sentiments also contested but most of them did not last after the 1982 national election (May, 1982). This paper will look at the failures of the OLIPPAC. The first part will be a general discussion of the OLIPPAC. The second part will look at the events after the 2002 elections, which have affected the effectiveness of the OLIPPAC. The third part will discuss how and why the OLIPPAC has failed to provide the much-needed political stability. And finally the paper will look at some remedies to the failures.