page_title: James Marape
section_title: Political career
hierarchical_section_title: James Marape / Political career
caption_attribution_description: English: US Congressman Mike Honda (left) meeting Papua New Guinea Finance Minister James Marape (right) at Jackson International Airport in Port Moresby in 2012
context_page_description: James Marape is a Papua New Guinean politician, who is serving as the 8th Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea since May 2019; he has been a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since July 2007, representing the electorate of Tari-Pori Open in Hela Province in the highlands. He held Cabinet Posts as Minister of Education and Minister of Finance.
context_section_description: His entry into politics was tumultuous. Marape first contested the Tari-Pori seat at the 2002 election for the People's Progress Party, when voting in the Southern Highlands Province was cancelled due to widespread violence. He contested the supplementary election in 2003 but lost to incumbent MP Tom Tomiape in a contest marred by the bashing of a polling official by his supporters. He challenged the result in the Court of Disputed Returns, but both his initial petition and a subsequent appeal were rejected.
  He contested the seat for a second time at the 2007 election and defeated Tomiape.  He won the subsequent parliamentary elections in Tari-Pori (2012 and 2017). He obtained in 2017 50%+1 of the vote (30,192 votes) and this is unusual in PNG’s Limited PV system.  A challenge by the second runner up Justin Haiara was dismissed by the National Court. 
  Prime Minister Michael Somare  gave him major parliamentary responsibilities after his win in 2007: Parliamentary Secretary for Works, Transport and Civil Aviation, Deputy Chair of the Privileges Committee and member of the Parliamentary Referral Committee on Inter-Government Relations.[He was Minister for Education from 16 December 2008 to 2 August 2011.He was then a member of Somare’s National Alliance Party. In February 2012, he left the National Alliance Party and joined the party of Prime Minister O’Neill, the People's National Congress (PNC). O’Neill appointed him as Minister of Finance in 2012.
  On 11 April 2019, he resigned as Minister of Finance but remained a member of People's National Congress and the Government. However, he resigned from the party on 29 April 2019. Sam Basil was appointed as Minister for Finance on 18 April 2019.
caption: Marape (right) with American politician Mike Honda in 2012
exif: {}