Rainian House of Councillors election, 1865

The 1st Rainian House of Councillors was held from the 29th July - 3rd September, 1865. It was intended to elect the first House of Councillors of the Commonwealth of Rainier which had only undergone the process of federalisation in March.

The Prime Minister Fydd Rochester, who had been appointed to the position on an interim basis before the election of a parliament following federation, led his British Imperial Party to a with 55% of the vote and 49 of the 80 seats, being especially strong in British Columbia, the Northwest Territory and Montana. The British Imperials strongest support came from landowners and farmers'. The opposition Union Party led by the Premier of Oregon Alfred Henry Lawson did well in Oregon and Cascadia as well as sweeping all three of Idaho's seats, but failed to break into British Columbia. The Unionists did exceptionally well amongst industrialists and urban residents. A single MP Peter Rochdale was elected in the Northern Territories.

Turnout was 77.5%.

Election process
The election used a voting system where each MP was elected in a single member constituency. Voting was done on the basis of a with white men over the age of 21 who owned property worth £2 annually being eligible to vote. The vote was conducted over a month as people often had to travel large distances to polling stations.

Voting was done in open which led to accusations of corruption and being common. According to several reports, voters were often bribed to vote for certain candidates, often through the means such as giving voters free drink. One group of Union party voters in British Columbia were kidnapped so they could not vote.