United Resources Party

It was established in December 1997 by Southern Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru, who became the inaugural leader.^[2][3] Its platform emphasised equitable returns from resource development. The party initially supported Bill Skate as Prime Minister, although they later withdrew their support. It grew through the course of 1998, with four MPs in August, five in October, and six in December: Agiru, Masket Iangalio, Peter Ipatas, Alfred Kaiabe, Charles Luta and Roy Yaki.^[4][5][6][7] Ipatas defected to the People's Democratic Movement in April 2001.^[2]

Agiru was dismissed from office and banned from public office for three years in January 2002 after being found guilty of misconduct by a leadership tribunal, and failed in repeated attempts to overturn the ban to allow him to contest the June 2002 election.^{[8][9][10][11][12]} Central Bougainville MP Sam Akoitai was the party's only MP after the election, and in July 2002, he became the party's second leader, with Agiru stating "the party is here to stay".^[13][14] Following the election, the URP switched their support to new Prime Minister Michael Somare.^[15] By December, Akoitai was serving as Mining Minister in the Somare government, and it was reported that seven independent MPs had joined the party.^[16][17] It gained a second ministry in August 2003.^[18]

In November 2003, Akoitai was replaced as leader by Tim Neville, who stated "we wanted to put some fire into the party", heading what had become a caucus of nine MPs.^[19] A week later, it merged with the Pan Melanesia Congress and the Advance People's Party, increasing their numbers to thirteen and making them the second largest party in the National Parliament after the governing National Alliance Party.^[20][21] The merger was queried by former leader Agiru, who highlighted the regulatory requirements for amalgamation under the Integrity Law.^[22] In January 2004, Akoitai and Agiru attempted to eject eight United Resources Party MPs who had been originally elected as independents from the party: Neville, William Duma, Isaac Taitibe, John Vulupindi, Benny Allen, Kuri Kingal, Clement Nakmai and Malcolm 'Kela' Smith.^[23]

In March 2004, both Akoitai and Neville claimed to be the legitimate leader of the party.^[24] By April, the two were largely leading separate factions, with Akoitai claiming to lead a four-member URP with Smith, Nakmai and Duma, and Neville claiming that he remained leader.^[25][26] This left the party with some members aligned with the government and some with the opposition.^[27] In June 2004, Peter Launa, a candidate for the Neville faction, was elected in a by-election for the Chimbu Regional seat.^[28] In July 2004, Speaker Jeffrey Nape ruled that only Akoitai and Launa would be recognised as URP MPs; however, Akoitai and Neville continued to publicly wrangle over the leadership.^[29][30] In November, the Registrar of Political Parties and Speaker Nape recognised different people as being the URP leader, leading to an angry stoush between Nape and Neville in parliament.^[31][32] After mid-2005, the split ceased making news, with Akoitai resuming the leadership and Neville eventually returning to being an independent MP; however, both Akoitai and Neville lost their seats at the 2007 election.^[33][34]