The Pangu Pati was established on 13 June 1967, At the time of its founding, the party stood-out as its ideals were for a political unification of
Papua and
New Guinea, stronger economic development and to grow the national income. Although the party, and its candidates, were not in a formal political union, there were ten candidates of Pangu that were elected to the
House of Assembly. The
1972 election, the last under Australian authority, saw Pangu-endorsed candidates win eighteen seats, with a total of pro-Pangu candidates reaching twenty-six. Somare later served as
Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea as the leader of the Pangu Party from 1972 to 1980 and from 1982 to 1985. In 1985,
Paias Wingti led a faction of the party to split with Somare, and Wingti won a no-confidence vote against Somare, succeeding him as prime minister. In 1988, Somare was replaced as leader of Pangu by
Rabbie Namaliu who served as prime minister from 1988 to 1992. Somare would then become leader of the
National Alliance Party. At the
2002 elections, the party won 6 of 109 seats, under the leadership of
Chris Haiveta. After that election, Somare returned to power as prime minister. Pangu became a member of his coalition government, and continued to support the Somare government after the
2007 elections, in which Pangu won 5 seats. It won only one seat at the
2012 election, that of
Angoram MP
Ludwig Schulze, but was left unrepresented when Schulze died in March 2013. In August 2014, Deputy Opposition Leader
Sam Basil crossed to Pangu and reactivated its parliamentary wing, taking on the leadership. The party's numbers increased to two in August 2015 when
William Samb won a by-election in Goilala Open, then to nine following the
2017 elections. At the
2022 elections, Pangu won a decisive first-place showing, its best since 1982, with 39 seats.
James Marape, who had defected from the previously largest party, the
PNC, to Pangu, continued his tenure as prime minister. This followed several other defections from the PNC to Pangu, largely attributed to the protracted crisis of leadership under Prime Minister
O'Neill. ==Electoral results==