Pawa Blong Meri: Women Candidates in the 2015 Bougainville Election

The 2015 Bougainville election saw a record number of women candidates, and a record number of women were elected. While one in three open constituencies had at least one woman candidate, overall the results for most women in the open seats were disappointing.

This paper reports on an in-depth study of women candidates in the 2015 Bougainville election: their profiles, motivations and campaign strategies. It analyses the impacts of three issues that emerged as common themes in discussions around women’s participation in political decision making in Bougainville:

- The impact of the shift to a limited preferential voting electoral system on political campaigning and the election of women.

- The effect of money politics, or the vote buying and gift-giving practices that are commonly associated with elections in Papua New Guinea.

- The influence of Bougainville’s matrilineal land ownership traditions on the campaigns and results of women candidates.

While limited preferential voting system has resulted in the election of women in some circumstances, it is by no means a panacea for women’s political under-representation. Similarly, the effects of money politics and the intersections between traditional custom and modern politics, including the role of matriliny in campaigning, are components of larger political debates in Melanesia.