1972 Papua New Guinean general election

The House of Assembly was expanded from 94 to 107 members, consisting of 100 elected members, four civil servants and three members nominated by members of the House to represent special interest groups. The 100 elected members were elected from 82 open constituencies and 18 regional constituencies, from each of which a single member was elected by Instant-runoff voting. Voters could vote for a candidate in both their local open constituency and the regional constituency covering their area. A total of 1,384,780 voters were enrolled. To reduce the reliance on 'whispered' votes (in which illiterate voters told polling officials who they wished to vote for), photos of the candidates were added to ballot papers. ==Campaign==

A total of 611 candidates contested the 100 seats in the House of Assembly, of which four were women and 74 were incumbents running for re-election. Two seats – East Sepik Regional and West Sepik Coastal Open – had only one candidate, both of whom (Michael Somare of the Pangu Party and Brere Awol respectively) were returned unopposed. Incumbent MP for Morobe Regional, Tony Voutas, chose not to run after becoming an official within the Pangu Party. Other incumbents stepping down included Percy Chatterton (Moresby Open). ==Results==

Only 38 of the 72 incumbents that contested the elections were re-elected. ==Aftermath==

Following the elections Michael Somare was able to form a coalition government including his Pangu Party, the People's Progress Party, the Niugini National Party, the Mataungan Association and a group of independents led by John Guise. Somare's bloc nominated Perry Kwan for the post of Speaker; Kwan won by a vote of 49–48 against United Party candidate Matthias Toliman. A new government was formed led by Somare as Deputy Chairman of the Administrator's Executive Council. ==See also==