The last national elections were held in March 1998. In November 1999, Barak Sope of the Melanesian Progressive Party assembled a parliamentary majority and formed the Government. Outside observers consider the 1998 elections to have been generally free and fair. A total of 216 candidates contested 52 seats. Voter turnout was 63.6 percent.
Women are underrepresented in government and politics.
Traditional attitudes, in which men are dominant and women frequently are limited to customary family roles, hamper women from taking a more active role in economic and political life. There are no restrictions on the formation of local human rights organizations. A new Ombudsman's Act was passed by Parliament in November 1998 in the wake of parliamentary anger over vigorous investigations of corruption by the Ombudsman under the previous act. Among other provisions it requires that members of the Ombudsman's staff be appointed by the Public Service Commission rather than by the Ombudsman and that persons interviewed by the Ombudsman may have legal representation present at the interview. Women Violence against women, particularly wife beating, is common, although no accurate statistics exist.