Papua New Guinea is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state. She is represented in Papua New Guinea by the Governor General who is currently Sir Paulias Matane.

Actual executive power lies with the Prime Minister, who heads the cabinet. The unicameral parliament has 109 seats, of which 20 are occupied by the governors of the 20 provinces. The members of parliament are elected every five years.

Elections in PNG attract large numbers of candidates. Since independence in 1975, members have been elected by the first past the post system, with winners frequently gaining less than 15% of the vote. Electoral reforms in 2001 introduced the Limited Preferential Vote system (LPV), a modified version of the Alternative Vote. The first general election to be conducted using LPV will be held in 2007.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy. There are three levels of government - national, provincial, and local.

It is a Commonwealth Realm, with the monarch of the United Kingdom (king or queen) being the head of state. The monarch is represented by a Governor-General who is elected by Parliament and who performs mainly ceremonial functions.

PNG’s head of government is the Prime Minister, elected by the 109-member unicameral Parliament. The prime minister appoints his cabinet from members of the governing party or coalition.

Members of Parliament are elected every five years from 19 provinces and the national capital district of Port Moresby. Since independence in 1975, members have been elected by the first past the post system, with winners frequently gaining less than 15% of the vote. Electoral reforms in 2001 introduced the Limited Preferential Vote system (LPV), a modified version of Alternative vote. The first general election to use LPV will be held in 2007.

Parliament introduced reforms in June 1995 to change the provincial government system, with regional (at-large) members of Parliament becoming provincial governors, while retaining their national seats in Parliament.