Papua Besena (lit. Papua Tribe) was a political party in Papua New Guinea.
The party was established in June 1973 by independent MP Josephine Abaijah.[1] The party advocated a separate state of Papua and opposed immigration from New Guinea.[1]
In the 1974 Port Moresby City Council elections the party won a landslide victory, and on 16 March 1975 Abaijah declared an independent Papuan state. However, this was ignored by the government.[1] In the 1977 general elections the party won six seats, winning all constituencies in Port Moresby and Central Province.[1] When provincial elections were held in 1979, it was victorious in Central Province.
In 1980 the party joined a government coalition headed by Prime Minister Julius Chan, alongside the Melanesian Alliance Party, the National Party, the People's Progress Party and some members of the United Party.[2]
The party was reduced to three seats in the 1982 general elections, after which it returned to opposition.[3] It lost all three seats in the 1987 elections, in which it received less than 1% of the vote. It did not contest any further national elections.[4]