General elections were held in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea between 19 February and 11 March 1972. They saw the election of the country's first female MP, Josephine Abaijah."She'll drive a hard bargain for Papua", Pacific Islands Monthly, May 1972, p35
Electoral system 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.Papua New Guinea The Commonwealth 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. Candidacy in the regional constituencies was limited to people who had received the Intermediate Certificate (or an equivalent) from school.
Prior to the elections, the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18.New, younger voters pose uncertainty at PNG polls Pacific Islands Monthly, January 1971, p26 A total of 1,384,780 voters were enrolled.Report of the United Nations Visiting Mission to observe the elections to the Papua New Guinea House of Assembly in 1972 United Nations
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.2,000 polling places Pacific Islands Monthly, March 1972, p 116
Campaign A total of 611 candidates contested the 100 seats in the House of Assembly,Party politics to the fore in PNG poll Pacific Islands Monthly, February 1972, pp26–27 of which four were women and 74 were incumbents running for re-election.PNG Elections Pacific Islands Monthly, April 1972, p106 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. The new House of Assembly had 37 members of the United Party, 11 from the People's Progress Party, 18 members of the Pangu Party, 8 members of the Niugini National Party, and 3 from the Mataungan Association.Roland Rich, Luke Hambly & Michael G. Morgan (2008) Political Parties in the Pacific Islands p85