Sir Michael was born in 1936 in Rabaul, East New Britain province. Before entering politics, Sir Michael was a teacher and a radio broadcaster.

Three-times prime minister, Sir Michael was twice removed in Votes of No Confidence, first by Julius Chan then by Paias Wingti.

A founding member of the PANGU Pati, Somare first won his seat of East Sepik Regional in 1968. He has held it easily ever since. Somare had a bitter falling out with PANGU in the 1990s and now leads the National Alliance Party which he founded in 1995. He contested the prime ministership after the 1997 elections but was easily beaten by Bill Skate.

During the latter stages of the 1997-2002 Parliament, the then prime minister, Sir Mekere Morauta, pushed through several significant constitutional changes aimed at trying to ensure that PNG enjoyed greater political stability. Ironically, Sir Michael has been the main beneficiary.

One of the changes provided for the governor-general to invite the leader of the party with the most winning candidates to try to form a government. In PNG's political maze this is a huge advantage. Sir Michael's National Alliance won fewer than 20 of the 109 seats in 2002 but that was more than any of the other parties and he had little trouble pulling a coalition together.

Other changes aimed at enforcing party solidarity have helped Sir Michael stay on top and it now seems he will be able to survive a full five year term, something neither he nor any of the other five prime ministers have been able to do since independence.