[1][2] During the previous elections in 2017, the People's National Congress (PNC), led by prime minister Peter O'Neill, won a plurality, securing 28 seats.

[3] No women were elected, which made Papua New Guinea one of the few countries in the world at the time to have no female members of the national legislature.

Due to the country's immense ethnic and linguistic diversity, some national parliament members feared that Bougainville's departure could inspire other regions to demand independence from Papua New Guinea.

[13] Incidents of violence occurred with a young woman killed at a polling station allegedly by police while waiting to cast her vote.

[28] Peter O'Neill (leader of the People's National Congress), another major opposition figure and former Prime Minister, was re-elected in his constituency of Ialibu-Pangia.

[30] Former Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan (People's Progress Party) was re-elected governor and MP for the province of New Ireland, in the first count with 54.7% of the vote.

[31] Another former prime minister, Paias Wingti (People's Democratic Movement), lost his post as governor of the Western Highlands province and as a member of parliament.

The economist Rufina Peter (People's National Congress) was elected MP and Governor of the Central Province; defeating the incumbent, Robert Agarobe (Pangu Pati).

[34] Allan Marat (Melanesian Liberal Party), a figure in the fight against corruption, MP since 2002 and former Deputy Prime Minister and Attorney General, was beaten by only three votes in his constituency of Rabaul.

[35] Michael Marum, former coach of the Papua New Guinea rugby league team, was elected governor and MP for the province of East New Britain.

[36] William Nakin, Member of Parliament for Bougainville-North for the National Alliance Party, was re-elected post-mortem, having died on 12 July during the ballot.