Rainian House of Councillors election, 1882

‹ 1877  1888 ›
Rainian House of Councillors election, 1882 83 seats in the House of Councillors
17th August - 21st September, 1882
		First Party	Second Party
Leader		Fydd Rochester	Alfred Henry Lawson
Party		British Imperial	Union
Leader since		1864	1865
Leader's seat		Victoria	Seattle North
Seats before		39	40
Seats won		48	32
Seat change		9	8
Percentage		45.37%	30.67%
Swing		2.15%	9.11%
Blue: British Imperial; Green: Union; Grey: Independent

The 4^th Rainian House of Councillors election was held from the 17^th August - 21^st September, 1882 to elect all 83 members of the House of Councillors.

The Union Party government of Alfred Henry Lawson which had been in power since 1871 was struggling from deep divisions over the issue of free trade with Sierra, with many more Whiggish Union party MP's opposing trade with Sierra whilst the so-called "Continentialists" wanted more integration with North America. Many feared that increasing trade with independent North American nations would lead to Rainier to be annexed by them, whilst some saw free trade as the first step to the destruction of Rainian industry. With his party heavily divided and his own health failing Lawson called an election to renew his mandate.

The British Imperial Party under Fydd Rochester were eager to end 11 years in political opposition, and were confident of victory. The British Imperial's strong protectionist stance convinced many that the British Imperial's would protect Rainian industry and keep Rainier in the realm of the Crown. In order to shed the British Imperial's image as being a party of "High Toryism" and proposed a moderate form of one-nation conservatism that emphasised social reform.

The British Imperial's were able to gain a majority government, despite getting a lower share of the vote than in 1877. The Union Party's vote collapsed and it lost key seats in strongholds such as Oregon and Cascadia. The election marked the start of a string of British Imperial party electoral victories with the Union Party returning to government 30 years later in 1912.

Election process

The election used a first-past-the-post voting system where each MP was elected in a single member constituency. In 1874, the Union government passed the Representation of the People Act that expanded the franchise by abolishing the the householder franchise and replacing it with the qualification that all white men who paid an annual rental of £5 and all those holding land valued at £5 now had the vote.

The Electoral Fraud Act 1876 banned "corrupt practices" and set a ceiling on total spending on political campaigns. This was due to elections becoming increasingly expensive and a strain on MP's.

Parties and leaders

Party		Ideology	Leader
	British Imperial Party	Conservatism, Monarchism, Toryism	Fydd Rochester
	Union Party	Classical liberalism, Whiggism, Federalism	Alfred Henry Lawson

Results

Summary of 1882 House of Councillors election results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/−
	British Imperial Party	220,405	45.37	48 / 83	+9
	Union Party	148,993	30.67	32 / 83	-8
	Others	114,356	23.54	3 / 83	-1
Invalid/blank votes		2,045	0.42	–	–
Total		485,796	100	83	±0
Registered voters/turnout		609,913	79.65	–	–

↓
48	3	32
British Imperial	Ind	Union

Vote and seats summaries

Popular vote
British Imperial			45.37%
Union			30.67%
Others			23.96%

Seat totals
British Imperial			57.83%
Union			38.55%
Others			3.61%