Rainian House of Councillors election, 1995

The 29th Rainian House of Councillors election was held on the 20th March 1995 to elect all 300 members of the House of Councillors. It is considered to be one of Rainier's most eventful elections in its history with the incumbent Labour-Liberal Democratic government suffering a crushing defeat to the opposition National Union Party under Gerald Fairbrook who won 48.70% of the vote and 152 seats, enough for a majority government. The election saw Labour suffer its worst defeat ever getting only 56 seats, a mere two ahead of the newly formed Social Democratic Labour Party. The co-governing LDP also got under 1 million votes for the first time in its history it what would be the last election in which they won seats om the House of Councillors.

After narrowly winning the 1993 election, the Labour-LDP became incredibly unpopular following deep austerity measures introduced as a result of the, most noticeably the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 1994 despite both parties having campaigned against the tax in 1993. The election of Gerald Fairbrook as NUP leader was also considered to be a major detriment to the coalition as Fairbrook removed many of the NUP's more radical right proposals.

In 1995 as part of the austerity measures the Maddock government introduced proposals to begin the of health and education services. This led to a public backlash and 12 left-wing Labour MP's - led by former Minister of Defence Johannes Vogel - to split from the party and form the Social Democratic Labour Party. The defection of 12 MP's led to the government to lose its majority with a successful vote of no confidence being passed in February which led to Maddock to dissolve parliament and call an early election.

During the election campaign support for the Labour and Liberal Democratic party collapsed due to a number of factors - many voters were displeased at the coalition's reneging of the promise to not implement the GST, the push to privatise health and education and corruption allegations put forward during the Baghdad Scandal. The perceived charisma of Fairbrook was crucial in raising the popularity of the NUP.

The election saw the worst defeat for a sitting government in Rainian history, with Labour and LDP combined seeing a swing of 30% against them. The NUP achieved a supermajority of single-member districts and 48% in the proportional bloc, giving them 152 seats necessary to form a majority government. The newly formed SDLP won 54 seats, just two behind Labour's 56, mainly picking up votes from dissatisfied Labour voters - this led to some to conclude that at the next election the SDLP would overtake Labour as the main opposition party, although this did not occur. The Social Credit and Green parties largely retained the same vote share as they had done in 1993. In remains the worst result the Labour party has ever got since its creation.

Despite winning a Fairbrook went into coalition with the Social Credit Party in order to bolster his majority from two to fifteen seats. The 6 million votes the NUP achieved remains the highest ever a party gained in a House of Councillors election.

Labour in power
In 1981 Matthew Griffiths formed the first Labour-led government since 1949 after defeating the National Union-Socred coalition. The Labour government drew its support from its traditional trade union member base, middle class voters on the coast, ethnic minorities and small business owners across the provinces and during its term implemented important economic and social reforms embracing economic management and  social legalisation. Benefiting from division in the opposition National Union party Labour won re-election in the 1985 and 1989 elections and in 1990 successfully saw a vote for a republic. The vote for a republic triggered the ousting of NUP leader Gaston Emmanuel in favour of the more conventionally conservative Michael Gwent. This saw the NUP rise in the polls during the early half of 1990. As a result Griffiths resigned as Prime Minister to run for President with Carwyn Maddock replacing him as Labour leader and Prime Minister in 1991.

Maddock's selection of Labour leader did not see a boost in opinion polls due to Maddocks "wooden" personality compared to the affable Griffiths - however during the 1993 House of Councillors election Labour ran a well managed campaign that heavily attacked the NUP as right-wing extremists. In particular Treasury Minister and leader of Labour's coalition partner the Liberal Democratic Party, Frank Sargant, criticised the proposal of the NUP to implement a "consumer tax". Labour and the LDP won a narrow re-election with Labour losses being supplemented by moderate gains by the LDP. Labour thus went on to form a record fourth term in government.

The newly elected government however ran into several difficulties. The had resulted in the government to make cuts in the budget whilst raising taxes as part of an  measure to reduce the large budget deficit. In 1990 Rainier had recorded its first budget surplus since 1967, but by 1994 this surplus was slashed as the economy slid into recession. Despite opposition from his backbenchers Maddock forced through the introduction of a goods and services tax (GST) in August 1994, despite having campaigned against a consumption tax in 1993. This resulted in a drop of support for the government particularly the LDP who had been seen in 1993 as the strongest opponents of a GST.

Changes in the opposition
The government's unpopularity was hampered by changes in National Union party. In April 1994 National Union MP's unhappy with the right-wing leadership of Michael Gwent held a vote of no confidence against him. Gwent lost the vote of confidence and entered a leadership contest against a candidate from the NUP's centrist wing, Gerald Fairbrook. Fairbrook, a "conservative with a social conscience", promoted neoconservative policies but unlike Gwent did not have connections with Christian right or nativist groups that were seen to be undermining support for the NUP. Gwent withdrew from the contest with Fairbrook being confirmed as the sole candidate and thus winning the leadership.

Upon his election as leader Fairbrook made several changes to the party, cutting off its official relations with the Christian right and appointing a permanent media office to improve the party's image. At the 1994 party conference Fairbrook launched "For Rainier" programme, a set of policy proposals that called for economic liberalism, lower taxes, trade union reform and populist right-wing policies. The For Rainier manifesto invigorated the NUP as it began to be seen as the party ideas. A reshuffle on the frontbench and a strong media campaign promoting Fairbrook saw the NUP establish a commanding lead in opinion polls well ahead of Labour. Fairbrook's emphasis on low taxes appealed to the traditional supporters of the LDP and his support for lower immigration Labour supporters disillusioned with the government's social policy.