New Bougainville Party

It was founded on 22 April 2005 by John Momis, Governor of Bougainville Province from 1999 to 2005, with former Premier Alexis Sarei among other figures involved in its creation.

[1][2] Momis lost the 2005 presidential election to Joseph Kabui and resigned the party leadership, which was assumed by Ezekiel Massat.

The party immediately formed a grand coalition with Kabui's Bougainville People's Congress, citing a desire to show that the province was "politically rising".

[5] In December 2007, government ministers Massat and Patrick Nisira resigned from the party to sit as independents in protest at a motion by their colleagues for the establishment of a formal opposition in Bougainville.

[6] The party endorsed Raymond Hakena, a former member of 1980s band Sanguma, in the 2008 presidential by-election after Kabui's death, but lost to James Tanis.