The ruling Pangu Pati has 56 members in Papua New Guinea Parliament, including current deputy Opposition leader James Nomane who is yet to resign from the party, according to the Registry of Political Parties and Candidates.
Registrar Emmanuel Pok said the registry had received notices from some MPs that they were resigning from the government, but had not officially resigned from their respective parties.
“(Current) Deputy Opposition Leader James Nomane remains listed under Pangu as the party has not yet written to us to have him removed from the list,” Pok said.
“(Hiri-Koiari MP) Keith Iduhu wrote a letter stating he is resigning from the Government but he has not written a letter to resign from his United Resource Party. So he is still included under URP.”
Nomane, when asked whether he had written to Pangu, and resigned from it, said the party should be asked that question to explain why he was still listed as a party member.
“I don’t know and I don’t particularly care (if I’m still listed under Pangu),” he said.
Parliament sits from next Tuesday. The grace period (18 months in office) for the Marape-led Government ended on 09 February, meaning anyone can now move a motion of no confidence against the Government.
Opposition MPs are confident that a vote of no confidence submission they made in the previous sitting was still pending and would be pursued in next week’s sitting.
According to Pok, Pangu led by Prime Minister James Marape has 56 MPs, the URP led by William Duma has 13, and the People’s National Congress Party led by Peter O’Neill has nine.
Powes Parkop’s Social Democratic Party has six MPs, Richard Maru’s People First Party has four and Sir Peter Ipatas People’s Party also has four.
Bulolo MP Sam Basil Jnr has three MPs, Walter Schnaubelt’s National Alliance Party has three, and Kerenga Kua’s PNG National Party has two.
Belden Namah’s PNG Party, People’s Progress Party, Liberal Party, Peoples Reform Party, PNG Destiny Party, PNG Greens Party, Melanesian Alliance Party, Our Development Party and the Melanesian Liberal party all have one MP each.
Pok said the three independent MPs were East Sepik Governor Allan Bird, Chimbu Governor Noah Kool and Karamui Nomane MP Francis Yori Alua.
“This is the updated list as of April 30 this year. We always update our list on a monthly basis,” he said.
There are six seats vacant.
The motion for a vote of no confidence must be signed by at least 15 of the 118 MPs. It then goes before the Private Business Committee for vetting.
Once the committee is satisfied that the required procedures have been followed, the motion is then listed on the notice paper.
The next day, the Speaker will announce to Parliament that a motion of no confidence has been moved against the PM.
Parliament will then adjourn for a week before proceeding with the vote of no confidence.
Since independence, PNG has had nine prime ministers elected in Parliament following a general election. But only two completed their terms: Michael Somare (2002 to 2007) and Peter O’Neill (2012 to 2017).
