[2] Pruaitch is an important politician within the PNG context, firstly because he is a longstanding MP in a parliament where turnover during elections is high and secondly because he has been close to power as a member of the Cabinet from 2002–2010 and from 2012–2017.
In June 2010, he was suspended from his Parliamentary seat due to allegations of misconduct in 2008: irregularities in expense accounts and misuse of District Development Funds [5] The procedure to bring him before a Leadership Tribunal was still underway in December 2019, when his last appeal against the procedure was dismissed.
[6] Despite these accusations he was appointed to the caretaker cabinet of Sam Abal when Michael Somare was in hospital in 2011.
[7][2] Following the 2017 general election, he led the coalition of parliamentary opposition parties against Peter O'Neill's government.
[10] Early in May, he accused O'Neill of not providing sufficient funding for police services in preparation for the 2017 general election.
[12] Pruaitch was dismissed as treasurer on 12 May 2017, but O'Neill offered him to remain a member of the government as a minister without a portfolio.
[14] A vote of no confidence cannot be moved in PNG’s national parliament during a period of 18 months after the commencement of the term of a Prime Minister.
[16] On 28 May 2019, this coalition appointed Pruaitch as nominee for Prime Minister in the Alternative Government of Papua New Guinea.
The defection of William Duma and his United Resources Party gave the opposition the numbers to defeat O’Neill.
Pruaitch protested against the procedure installing Marape as PM and opened a court case four months after the election in August 2019 as he considered the succession illegal.
However, in September he withdrew the court case after he left the opposition and joined the government coalition.
[28][29] In July 2020, a leadership tribunal against Pruaitch revived accusations of misconduct dating from two decades prior.
On 14 November 2020, Pruaitch joined a group of 13 Ministers in a "camp" of MPs meeting in Vanimo – the constituency of Belden Namah, leader of he opposition – planning a vote of no confidence in the Marape government.
[32] Patrick Pruaitch was selected as the alternate PM in a contest with Sam Basil: 27 votes against 24, with 4 abstentions.
[35] The National Alliance Party had split during the attempt to mount a vote of no confidence as some of their MPs remained loyal to Marape.