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Papua New Guinea

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Papua New Guinea

Queen Elizabeth II Governor-General Paulias Matane Prime Minister Michael Somare National Parliament Political parties Elections: 2007 Supreme Court Provinces Foreign relations

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Contents 1 History 1.1 The Bougainville issue 1.2 Government 1.3 Naming of Provinces 2 List of Provinces 3 Regions 4 Reference

Immediately before independence 16 September 1975, Papua New Guinea was divided into nineteen provinces and the National Capital District. These provinces corresponded to the "Districts" of the pre-Independence administration of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea.

It had been considered that an independent state with limited resources could ill afford the infrastructure of a two-level quasi-federal governmental structure.

However, a secession movement in Bougainville, whose Bougainville Copper Mine provided the largest single source of foreign exchange and whose contribution to the general revenue was crucial to the independent state's economic viability, forced the issue. The Bougainville secession movement declared the Republic of North Solomons on 1 September 1975 and the central government very quickly responded by offering provincial status to Bougainville. For the sake of consistency, as there were or had been regional separatist movements in Papua and East New Britain, provincial status was offered to the other 18 Districts as well.

Bougainville continues to be a special case. A renewed secession movement emerged in 1988 and resulted in a violent military campaign on the island, the closing of the Bougainville Copper Mine with serious financial consequences for the central government, the destruction or running-down of most infrastructure on the island and, ultimately, the total quarantining of the province for a decade. The Bougainville secessionists came to terms with the central government in 1997. A constitution was drafted for a more autonomous regional polity within Papua New Guinea with its own "president," and provisions for a referendum on total autonomy in due course.

The provinces had elected provincial assemblies and cabinets led by premiers; however, the State remained legislative, not federal. Unlike Canada, Australia and the United States, whose federal governments are creatures of the provinces or states, but as with the provinces and states of Pakistan and India, the provinces are creatures of the central government and can be suspended by it or have their boundaries changed. Indeed there have been suspensions of several provincial governments to address corruption or incompetence by elected provincial governments. Changes in the boundaries of those provinces which are adjacent to the former boundary between the Territories of Papua and New Guinea can cause special complications in the administration of statutes which apply in Papua or New Guinea but not both.

Ultimately in June 1995 in an effort to re-assert a measure of control by the central government over the often wayward provinces in an environment of limited numbers of personnel qualified for public office in many of the provinces, the office of provincial premier was abolished and the Regional (at-large) members of Parliament became provincial governors, while retaining their national seats in Parliament.

Several of the provincial governments have purported to change the names of their provinces, with Bougainville becoming North Solomons, Western becoming Fly River, Chimbu becoming Simbu, Northern becoming Oro and West Sepik becoming Sandaun. The changes have been accorded popular acceptance but they remain unofficial as the provinces are creatures of the Constitution and official changes of name would require amendments to the Constitution using the prescribed amending formula.

	Province	Capital	Area (km2)	Population
1	Central	Port Moresby	29,500	161,447
2	Simbu (Chimbu)	Kundiawa	6,100	187,809
3	Eastern Highlands	Goroka	11,200	316,802
4	East New Britain	Kokopo	15,500	235,712
5	East Sepik	Wewak	42,800	280,340
6	Enga	Wabag	12,800	279,046
7	Gulf	Kerema	34,500	72,794
8	Madang	Madang	29,000	288,317
9	Manus	Lorengau	2,100	38,697
10	Milne Bay	Alotau	14,000	185,000
11	Morobe	Lae	34,500	439,725
12	New Ireland	Kavieng	9,600	105,893
13	Oro (Northern)	Popondetta	22,800	112,985
14	North Solomons (Bougainville)	Arawa	9,300	178,262
15	Southern Highlands	Mendi	23,800	390,240
16	Western (Fly)	Daru	99,300	126,411
17	Western Highlands	Mount Hagen	8,500	398,376
18	West New Britain	Kimbe	21,000	170,485
19	Sandaun (West Sepik)	Vanimo	36,300	160,349
20	National Capital District	Port Moresby	240	271,813

On a broader scale, the nation is divided into four regions. These regional groupings are quite significant in daily life, as they are often the basis for organisation of government services, corporate operations, sporting competitions, and even the machinations of politics. For instance, there has been much discussion over the years of how many Prime Ministers have come from each region, and whether a particular region is due to provide the next one. Ministers and departmental heads are often appointed with an eye to maintaining an overall balance between the regions.

People generally identify quite strongly with their region, and inter-region rivalries can be intense. The four regions are:

• Highlands Region: Simbu, Eastern Highlands, Enga, Southern Highlands, and Western Highlands.
• Islands Region: East New Britain, Manus, New Ireland, Bougainville, and West New Britain.
• Momase Region: East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, and West Sepik (Sandaun).
• Papua Region: Central, Gulf, Milne Bay, Northern Province (Oro), Western (Fly), and the National Capital District.

Momase is a recently devised portmanteau word which combines the first two letters of Morobe, Madang, and Sepik.

• Papua New Guinea Country Statistics