The Melanesian Liberal Party is a political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

. The party won 2 out of 109 seats in the 2007 General Elections

Papua New Guinean general election, 2007

General elections were held in Papua New Guinea from 30 June 2007 to 14 July 2007.For the first time, the election did not use first past the post , but rather Limited Preferential Voting, in which voters number...

.

Following the 2007 election, it initially supported Prime Minister Michael Somare

Michael Somare

Sir Michael Thomas Somare, GCL, GCMG, CH, CF, KStJ, MP was Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 2002 to 2011; he had previously been Prime Minister from independence in 1975 until 1980 and again from 1982 until 1985. Somare's first two terms were as a member of the Pangu Party, but he then...

's government, as Party leader Allan Marat

Allan Marat

Allan S. M. Marat CBE is a Papua New Guinean politician. He served as Minister for Justice and Attorney General in Prime Minister Michael Somare's Cabinet from August 2007 to May 2010. In May 2010, he publicly stated that major mining projects in the country brought little benefit to local...

was appointed Attorney-General and Justice Minister. In May 2010, however, Marat publicly criticised aspects of government policy, and resigned upon being asked to do so by the Prime Minister. He informed Somare that the MLP would no longer be supporting the government.