Leader Ben Micah Founded 1968 (1968) | Founder Julius Chan National Parliament 7 / 111 | |
The People's Progress Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea. It is led by Sir Julius Chan.
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It was founded in 1968 by Chan, who was Prime Minister from 1980 to 1982 and 1994 to 1997. Chan’s second government was brought down by the Sandline Affair and the party suffered in the elections that year. Chan and acting Prime Minister John Giheno lost their seats, and Michael Nali became the party’s leader in Parliament.
When Chan was not serving as Prime Minister, the party was often a junior partner in a coalition with the Pangu Party. At the 2002 elections, the party won 8 seats, becoming the third largest party. At the 2007 election the party lost half of its seats. However, the party’s original leader, Julius Chan, returned to Parliament, and took over the party’s leadership. Chan ran as the opposition candidate for Prime Minister, but received the support of only 21 of the 109 members of parliament.
The party had 7 members in the 111-seat National Parliament of Papua New Guinea as of November 2016, and was part of the governing coalition of Prime Minister Peter O'Neill.