But she was swept into office by an energetic team of jobless youth from the capital's impoverished settlements, old men and widows, decisively defeating sitting MP Albert Karo in the capitalšs Port Moresby South seat.
"The catalyst was Buri's death because I would never have gone into politics before he died," said the New Zealand-born Kidu.
"I was quite happy to be his wife and look after the pigs and chickens and be a teacher. But when he died - and he wanted to take part - I just had to do it."
Praising her victory, the Post-Courier daily newspaper said it was a "signal that voters want to see women of quality - women who understand what is best for this country - getting into national politics".
Another woman, Dame Josephine Abaijah, who once was a Papuan secessionist movement leader and recently headed the women's rights movement, won a parliamentary seat for the third time.
She ousted incumbent Tim Neville, a former Forests Minister, and was poised to become the country's first female governor in Milne Bay, a province where women outnumber men by two to one.
Abaijah entered Parliament as regional member for the National Capital District in 1972 - three years before independence from Australia. However, although she won again in 1977, five years later she was defeated.
In Western Highlands, supporters of losing male candidates went on the rampage, raping 12 women and destroying thousands of kina worth of property in revenge. In spite of tight security, in other parts of the nation ballot boxes were hijacked in a helicopter, gunbattles erupted and a group of soldiers was arrested by police as an "illegal force".
Father Robert Lak, a Roman Catholic priest and broadcaster with strong links with social justice non-government organisations, ousted former Prime Minister Paias Wingti to become governor-elect of Western Highlands province.
In Eastern Highlands, Peti Lafanama, general secretary of Melanesian Solidarity (Melsol), a human rights activist group, was swept by a landslide victory to the office of governor-elect.
Melsol was one of the leading community and NGO groups who spearheaded protests against the Chan government in March over the Sandline mercenary contract.
Shortly before the election it was targeted by police in dawn raids and four NGO leaders, including human rights lawyer Powes Parkop, were charged with "illegal assembly".
The loss of Prime Minister Chan, regarded as the great political survivor in Papua New Guinea, was the biggest surprise.
An astute politician and wealthy businessman, he has twice been prime minister. And he has held his seat of Namatanai, on the island of New Ireland, for the past 29 years.
Reacting to his surprise defeat with a mixture of pain and regret, he said he would bow out of politics.
Blaming the loss on local issues, he acknowledged, however, that the Sandline scandal had played a major role in his defeat.
"To those that I have given the least they have returned me with the greatest number," he said. "But those to whom much is given, they have given me very little in return."
He lost by just 110 votes to a cousin, Ephraim Apelis, who lives at a village 10 kilometres away and who campaigned vigorously to topple Chan.
In the Sandline affair the government hired a British-based mercenary company to plan and execute a surgical strike against secessionist rebels on the island of Bougainville.
Chan stood aside as prime minister in March after military commander Brigadier-General Jerry Singirok denounced the $36 million plan, touching off a wave of protests against the government.
A commission of inquiry, established by Chan himself, recently ruled that the prime minister, Deputy Prime Minister Chris Haiveta and Defence Minister Mathias Ijape had done nothing wrong.
But the unconvinced public swept aside Defence Minister Ijape, Mining Minister John Giheno - who was acting prime minister during the inquiry - and chairman Ben Micah of the Constitutional Review Committee.
The controversial Micah had backed unpopular draconian legislation to muzzle the news media.
Analysts believe the challenge for the many talented newcomers elected to Parliament is to encourage the new government to be more responsive in health, education and social development policies.
David Robie is a New Zealand journalist and author specialising in South Pacific affairs. He is currently lecturer in journalism at the University of Papua New Guinea.
