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The Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG; Tok Pisin: Otonomos Bogenvil Gavman) is the government of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.
Structure
The Constitution of Bougainville specifies that the Autonomous Bougainville Government shall consist of three branches:
- Executive – the President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, who chairs the Bougainville Executive Council
- Legislative – the Bougainville House of Representatives (39 elected members and 2 ex officio members).
- Judicial – the Bougainville Courts, including a Supreme Court and High Court.
History
The government was established in 2000 following a peace agreement between the government of Papua New Guinea and the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA), a guerrilla movement.
Elections for the first autonomous government were held in May and June 2005; Joseph Kabui was elected president, with Joseph Watawi selected by the House of Representatives as vice-president.
A non-binding referendum for independence from Papua New Guinea was held in December 2019. This was in accordance with the terms of the Bougainville Peace Agreement, which requires such a referendum to be held by 2020. There were concerns that the referendum could result in violence due to unresolved tensions from the Bougainville conflict. In this referendum, 98% of voters voted in favour of independence.
Constitutional amendments proposed in February 2020, would see the Autonomous Bougainville Government renamed as the "Bougainville Constitutional Transitional Government".
References
- Autonomous Bougainville Government (April 2019). Referendum TOKSAVE (PDF). Fact Sheet No. 3 (in Tok Pisin). Retrieved 4 December 2019.
- The Constitution of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (PDF). p. 28, S41 – via Autonomous Bougainville Government.
- "Target Date Set for Bougainville Referendum". ABC News. 23 May 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
- Boungainville Peace Agreement (PDF). p. 1, S2 – via Autonomous Bougainville Government.
- Woodbury, Jo (2015). The Bougainville Independence Referendum: Assessing the Risks and Challenges Before, During and After the Referendum (PDF). Indo-Pacific Strategic Papers. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 October 2015.
- Yeung, Jessie; Watson, Angus (11 December 2019). "Bougainville Independence Vote Delivers Emphatic Demand to Become World's Newest Nation". CNN. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- Tulo, Meriba (19 February 2020). "Bougainville Proposing Constitution Amendments, Rejects 'Process' Claim". Asia Pacific Report. Retrieved 11 September 2020.