Rainian House of Councillors election, 2017

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Rainian House of Councillors election, 2017 266 seats in the House of Councillors
24th August 2017 Turnout: 67.26% ( 4.42%; 12,484,859 votes)
		First Party	Second Party	Third Party
Leader		Alexander Llewellwyn	Andrew Clarkson	Nicole Faulkner
Party		Labour	National Union	Reform
Leader since		2017	2008	2014
Leader's seat		Vancouver West	Calgary Heritage	Montana
Seats before		98	118	16
Seats won		127	70	54
Seat change		29	48	38
Popular vote		5,485,370	3,039,294	2,353,201
Percentage		43.94%	24.34%	18.85%
Swing		8.89%	17.77%	12.91%
		Fourth Party	Fifth Party
Leader		Yasmin Casimir	Rhondri Mears
Party		Green-Left Movement	Social Credit
Leader since		2010	2017
Leader's seat		PR	Portland North (Lost seat)
Seats before		13	21
Seats won		14	1
Seat change		1	20
Popular vote		607,514	440,354
Percentage		4.87%	3.53%
Swing		0.12%	3.98%

In 2017 the Commonwealth of Rainier held a House of Councillors election Voting took place in all constituencies of Rainier – 118 single-member constituencies and 148 from 12 proportional blocks – in order to elect all 266 members of the House of Councillors. The date of the election was the 24^th August, held four years after the previous election.

In May 2017 Prime Minister Andrew Clarkson requested to President Nigel Elystan to dissolve the House of Councillors on the 24^th August 2017. The campaign began in July 2017 with the centre-right National Union Party, the senior party in the then coalition government with the economic liberal Social Credit party who were together defending a majority from the opposition centre-left Labour party. Other parties involved in the campaign included the left-wing Green-Left Movement and right-wing Reform party.

The incumbent Clarkson government had suffered from low polling in its second term especially following the Cash-for-Votes scandal, leading many to see the Labour party, led by Alexander Llewellwyn, to be seen as early front runners. However a strong challenge from the right-wing populist Reform Party under Nicole Faulkner led to many to discuss the possibility of the retention of a right-wing government of the NUP and Reform, despite worries that the Reform party was to extreme.

The election saw a landslide for the opposition Labour party, whose 127 seats and 43.94% share of the vote being the highest since the 1989 election. The NUP in comparison suffered its worst defeat ever with its seats dropping from 118 to 70 and getting only 24.34% of the vote. The NUP's coalition partners, the Social Credit party, saw a collapse in support failing to surpass the 4% threshold for proportional seats and retaining only 1 constituency seat. In contrast the Reform Party achieved one of the best results for a third party since the 1970's getting 54 seats and 18.85% of the vote. The Green-Left Movement retained their 13 seats but only made a single gains.

Following the election Llewellwyn announced his intention to form a coalition government with the Green-Left Movement whilst both Clarkson and Social Credit leader Rhondri Mears who lost his seat announced their intentions to resign.

Electoral process

Rainier has since 1930 used an additional members system with a 4% electoral threshold. 118 members of parliament are elected in single-member districts whilst 148 are elected using regional party-list proportional representation closed lists. Seat calculation is conducted via the d'Hondt method despite there being no overhang seats mechanism. If parties win district seats but do not pass the 4% threshold they are not entitled to list seats. Seat distribution is based on the results from the party list vote rather than the district seats vote.

Timetable

30 June	Prime Minister Andrew Clarkson announced his intention to hold an early election.
2 July	President Nigel Elystan approves of the Prime Ministers request to hold an election.
4 July	Formal dissolution of the House of Councillors; start of campaign period.
28 July	Last day members of the public could register to vote.
1 August	Last day in which members of the public could apply for proxy voting or postal voting.
18 August	Last day for candidates to file nomination papers.
24 August	Polling day
31 August	New House of Councillors Assembled

Background

Since the 2009 House of Councillors election the National Union Party under Andrew Clarkson has held government in a coalition with the Social Credit Party (Socreds) where they had to deal with the economic fallout stemming from the Great Recession. The red-green government of Diane Hall (2005-2009) had responded to the recession with economic stimulus whilst undertaking some belated welfare cuts and privatisations. The Clarkson government moved away from stimulus to undertake austerity instead to avoid a bailout from the Conference of American States. This included a far-reaching privatisation programme and a series of unpopular spending cuts.

The 2013 election was widely seen as a close race between the NUP and Labour, as economic growth returned albeit at a sluggish pace. The election saw Labour however fail to make serious gains as the NUP retained most of their seats, albeit with the Socreds losing much of theirs. Clarkson thus continued as Prime Minister albeit on a smaller mandate.

A crash in oil prices in 2014 however saw the economy enter a technical recession causing the government to approve of more spending cuts. This alongside the election of new Labour leader Alexander Llewellwyn resulted in a fall of support for the government. This was observed in several provincial elections - in 2015 Labour under Rachel Notley defeated the Albertan National Union party which had won every election in that province since 1971. In 2016 Steve Bullock, the centre-left Premier of Montana won re-election with an increased majority as did the Labour premiers Kate Brown in Oregon and Jay Inslee in Washington in 2016. Most prominently in 2017 the centre-right provincial government of Christy Clark in British Columbia lost its majority and was ousted from office on the 29^th June by a Labour-Green Left coalition.

Cash-for-Votes scandal

In late November 2016 it came to light that the National Union Party had embezzled over £300 million ($180,690,236.70) in public finances over a period of five years to pay for various political party campaigns under the guise of using it to promote federal projections abroad. The NUP was able to do so due to loopholes in public finance laws that allowed them to redirect money from provincial to federal governments without declaring the total sum of money received to the federal government. The details of the embezzlement was leaked during the 2016 presidential election and quickly became known as the "Cash for Votes" scandal.

The Cash-for-votes scandal was the most serious Rainian political scandal in over a decade since the TriMet scandal and one the biggest corruption scandals ever in Rainian history. Despite calls for the Prime Minister's resignation and an early election Andrew Clarkson refused to resign stating he had no knowledge of the affair, blaming provincial governments for deliberately fudging public finances. As a result of the scandal the NUP recorded a sharp drop in popularity.

As a result of the scandal a cross-party investigation has been launched to investigate misuse of public finances with all major parties pledging to examine the issue.

Parties standing

11 parties were registered to run on the party list in the election and theoretically get a seat in the House of Councillors. However only five parties were expected to either win constituency seats or pass the 4% electoral threshold. All parties have top candidates which are seen as "prime ministerial candidates".

Party		Ideology	Political position	Leading candidate(s)	2013 result
	National Union Party	Conservatism, Economic liberalism	Centre-right	Andrew Clarkson	118 / 266
	Labour Party	Social Democracy, Trade Unionism	Centre-left	Alexander Llewellwyn	98 / 266
	Social Credit Party	Agrarianism, Decentralisation	Centre-right	Rhondri Mears	21 / 266
	Reform Party	National Liberalism, Right-wing populism	Right-wing	Nicole Faulkner	16 / 266
	Green-Left Movement	Eco-socialism, Left-wing populism	Left-wing	Yasmin Casimir	13 / 266

Campaign

National Union Party

The NUP entered the campaign trailing the Labour Party by 20 points, being on average only 5 points ahead of the right-wing Reform party. Despite concerns over his personal unpopularity (with his net approval rating dropping to –34%) Andrew Clarkson fought his third campaign as NUP leader, hiring Lynton Crosby to serve as a campaign adviser. Clarkson launched the campaign on the 7^th July in Calgary where he promised that a NUP government would ensure economic stability, lower general taxation and preserving "Rainian values" such as enforcing a niqab ban, cutting foreign aid and halving total immigration to Rainier. The campaign opening was seen as a move to the natavist right by some commentators being perceived as an attempt to appeal to Reform Party voters.

Incumbent National Union leader and Prime Minister Andrew Clarkson at the first NUP rally.

Under Crosby's direction the NUP increased their presence on social media spreading posts primarily criticising the Labour party and the possibility of a red-green coalition. The NUP's campaign cost £32,144,179 ($19,549,447.47), the highest of all campaigns.

On the 10^th July Clarkson announced that once the budget deficit was eliminated the next NUP government would drastically increase infrastructure spending to modernise Rainier's transport systems. In the same speech Clarkson stated a NUP government would implement a points-based immigration system in regards to all migration and would hold a referendum on CAS membership if the CAS spoke out against such policies.

The NUP's manifesto was launched on the 14^th July 2017. Some of the key campaign promises made included plans to introduce privatisations of the postal and telecommunication networks, cut income, corporation, capital gains and goods and services tax, eliminate the budget deficit by the next parliament, clamping down on benefit fraud, bring down net migration to below 20,000 and increase total spending on defence. As a result to economic slowdowns the NUP proposed austerity and increasing the export of "ethical oil". The manifesto stated that Rainier would take in no refugees from Syria and called for greater security operations against China including labelling it at as currency manipulator. The NUP also ruled out voting in favour of same-sex marriage but were ambiguous on whether they would hold a referendum on the matter. Whilst admitting global warming existed the NUP called for market based solutions to the problem and stated they would never impose a carbon tax whilst also defending the practice of fracking. The manifesto was said by the Daily Gazette as being the NUP's most right-wing to date and a victory for the "blue tories" in the party.

On the 20^th July Clarkson stated that the NUP would preferably enter another coalition government with the Social Credit party and ruled out a German-style grand coalition with the Labour party. He did not however discount the possibility of a coalition with the Reform party.

The NUP campaign had several controversies. MP for Helena Dirk Bailey was criticised when at a town hall he called for a "final solution" against Muslims, causing Bailey to be removed as a NUP candidate. Minister of Industry and Development Thomas Pullen also caused controversy when he criticised women for "not giving birth enough", which were considered to be sexist comments.

Labour party

Labour entered the election with a 20% lead over the NUP with leader Alexander Llewellwyn (who had only become leader following his predecessor Nigel Elystan resigning upon his election as President in 2016) having the highest net approval rating of all party leaders. As such they were widely seen as the front runners in the election.

The Labour campaign was based around the personal popularity of Llewellwyn, with the campaign around him being described as "presidential" in character. The presidential nature of Labour's campaign was criticised especially by the NUP as focusing more on style over substance. The total spending by the Labour campaign was £25,779,140 ($15,678,357.91). Labour reportedly looked to their British counterparts 2017 campaign which had netted that party 40% of the vote as inspiration for campaigning and policy prescriptions.

Labour's first rally, held on the 5^th July in Seattle emphasised the "social fracture" that had emerged under 8 years of NUP rule and promised to increase spending to ensure a "brighter future for young people". Llewellwyn stated the party would take a "flexible approach" to eliminate the deficit intending to reduce it but not at the expense of investment Labour believed was necessary. Llewellwyn also promised a pragmatic approach to economic policy, stating a Labour government would neither privatise nor nationalise any industry.

Labour leader Alexander Llewellwyn launching the Labour manifesto.

Labour was the first party to release their manifesto doing so on the 9^th July. The manifesto promised to boost spending in education, health and infrastructure, eliminate tuition fees, reduce unemployment and build more affordable homes. Labour also confirmed it would raise the top rate of income tax and introduce two new tax brackets but reduce income taxation overall; they stated they would also raise the financial transaction and capital gains taxes and decrease corporation tax. In response to the economic slowdown following the 2010s oil glut Labour proposed economic stimulus and a diversification of the economy away from oil and gas exports. The manifesto also promised to pass same-sex marriage through parliament, legalise cannabis and limit immigration overall. Labour's environmental policy however was unclear - whilst expressing a desire to phase out nuclear energy and increase investment in renewable energy Labour neither committed to nor ruled out imposing carbon pricing.

The Labour manifesto also called for a reorientation in foreign relations, most prominently promote better relations with China and South Korea as well as re-examine Rainier's relationship with Saudi Arabia. However Labour also promised to maintain close cooperation with Japan and promote policies that would limit Russian aggression. Labour's manifesto was overall seen as a product of the centre-left of the party, with significant shifts to the left on education policy but a move to the right on immigration policy.

Llewellwyn stated Labour would be open to forming a red-green coalition with the Green-Left Movement or a traffic light coalition with the Green-Left Movement and the Social Credit party. The only party Labour explicitly ruled out entering government with was the Reform party stating there were to many differences between the parties.

Social Credit party

The Social Credit party (Socreds) after serving four years in government with the NUP had declined in the polls, being well below the 4% electoral threshold. Due to the low poll ratings before the election Social Credit leader and Minister of the Treasury Frank Jackson resigned on the 12^th March with Minister of Social Welfare and Labour Rhondri Mears replacing him on the 28^th March. Mears promised to shift the party from a sole focus on economic liberalism to reconnecting with its rural base, shifting the party's social rhetoric to the right in order to appeal to Socred voters who were considering voting for the Reform party. Mears however defended the NUP-Socred coalition as providing the country with fiscal discipline and avoiding a bailout from the CAS. The Socreds total campaign spending was £15,679,283 ($9,535,826.67).

The first rally held by the Socreds on the 6^th July with Mears calling for a "unabashedly pro-consumer, pro-business" policy, stating the NUP only favoured big business and Labour's policies would damage the economy. Mears instead advocated for lower taxation, deregulation and privatisation as well as increasing education and healthcare spending. Mears suggested more PFI's as a solution to deal with raising health and education costs.

The Socred manifesto released on the 19^th July was a move to the right for the party that opposed the legalisation of same-sex marriage and soft drugs, called for tighter abortion laws and a more comprehensive law and order policy. However the manifesto also saw a firm entrenchment of the Socred's neoliberal policies they have promoted since their inclusion in the NUP government including lowering the capital gains and income taxes, privatising state-owned enterprises and ensuring a "bonfire of regulations". Nevertheless the Socreds continued their traditional support for increased rural subsidies and ruled out joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on the basis it would hurt Rainian rural workers', championing protectionist policies.

The Socreds stated they would not enter a coalition with the Green-Left Movement and Reform Party but would be open to both joining a Labour or National Union led government. However the Socreds said they were closer to Clarkson's NUP than the Labour party.

Reform party

Reform leader Nicole Faulkner campaigning in her west Montana constituency

The Reform party entered the campaign with the intention to become the largest party of the right, either leading a right-wing coalition or as the main opposition party. Previously a minor party stagnating wages, rising immigration and disillusionment with the mainstream parties led to the Reform party to strike a populist cord that resulted in their poll ratings to increase steadily over the last parliament. The Reform Party's campaign cost £17,920,215 ($10,846,274.66)

Under party leader Nicole Faulkner the Reform party has moved from their previous right-libertarian position to endorse a right-wing populist position that called for on the one hand a much more economically interventionist and larger welfare state as well as endorsing social conservatism, in particular Islamophobia and opposition to immigration. Faulkner also dropped much of the Reform party's neoconservative stances instead endorsing détente with Russia and a non-interventionist foreign policy. Political scientists said that Faulkner's changes to the Reform party meant it shifted away from resembling right-liberal parties such as the Party for Freedom and UKIP to more resembling European far-right parties such as the French National Front.

The Reform Party launched their manifesto on the 13^th July in the city of Saskatoon. The Reform Party's 2017 manifesto was a notable departure from their previous ones, calling for tax cuts for lower income families, re-nationalisation of water and power grids and boosting spending in health and welfare. The Reform party also pledged to lower the retirement age and reducing tuition fees for medicine & science by raising fees for humanities instead. In foreign policy the Reform Party's foreign policy shifted from neoconservatism and hawkish support for Israel for better relations with Russia (including recognising the Russian invasion and occupation of Crimea) and taking a firm line against China.

On some other issues however the Reform party followed an orthodox line, calling for an end to "political correctness", advocating for a net migration target of zero by the end of the next parliament and outright banning immigration from Indonesia, Hani, Tanjung and Pakistan, opposing same-sex marriage, restricting abortion rights, opposing legalisation of soft drugs, clamping down on the sale of porn and endorsing the appellation of Rainier as a Christian nation. The Reform party also advocated for a referendum to restore the British monarchy to Rainier and challenged the scientific consensus on global warming saying the 2010s oil glut had not affected the economy adversely and that more oil drilling was needed.

The Reform Party stated they would not fundamentally oppose a coalition with either of the main two parties, singling out the Green-Left as the only party they were unwilling to work with. They did however demand that any prospective coalition must promise to substantially limit immigration and allow the Reform party to take the post of Prime Minister.

Green-Left Movement

The Green-Left Movement went into the election to increase their seat share and form government with the Labour party in a red-green alliance as occurred from 2005-2009 under Diane Hall. The Green-Left's campaign was the least expensive of the major parties spending £9,175,566 ($5,572,093.28) due to the fact that the Green-Left Movement only takes individual donations and public funds for political parties.

Green-Left Movement leader Yasmin Casimir at a rally in Portland

The Green-Left Movement launched their campaign on the 3^rd July when leader Yasmin Casimir pledged that in government the Green-Left Movement would fight for environmental policies (such as greater use of renewable energy, the ending of the "myth of ethical oil" and a phase out of nuclear energy) and pro-worker policies (such as more rights for trade unions and raising the minimum wage). Casimir stated the 2010s oil glut had damaged the Rainian economy moreso than help it and that as a result Rainier should diversify its economy away from oil production for economic and environmental reasons.

The Green-Left Movement's manifesto was released on the 11^th July. Described by the Daily Gazette as being an approval of "tax and spend" the manifesto called for increases in the top rates of income tax, capital gains, financial transaction and corporation tax and the imposition of a carbon tax. They also proposed eliminating tuition fees, increasing spending on education, welfare, healthcare and infrastructure, re-nationalising sections of the health sector that is privatised, and clamping down on tax evasion. The Green-Left Movement also called for the legalisation of same-sex marriage and soft drugs, combating Islamaphobia and maintaining Rainier's policy of multicultralism. In terms of foreign policy, the Green-Left Movement called for a "human rights based approach" working with countries such as Japan, Sierra and member states of the European Union to promote human rights abroad and severing ties with Saudi Arabia. They also called for the recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state and disavowed military interventionism. Despite calling for a more human rights based approach Green-Left said they would also seek to mend relations with Russia which had been poor under the Clarkson government. The Green-Left Movement also promised to reduce carbon emissions and redirect subsides from the fossil fuel industry to renewable energies instead.

The Green-Left Movement stated they would not enter coalition nor provide supply to the three parties of the right (National Union, Reform and Social Credit) and would only support a Labour government if they were given significant policy concessions on areas such as the economy and the environment.

The Green-Left Movement entered some controversy when one of its candidates, Brittany Rudd, called Israel an "apartheid state". NUP leader Andrew Clarkson criticised the Green-Left Movement for tolerating antisemetism and called for the parties public funding to be stripped from it.

Leaders debates

Rainian general election debates, 2017
Date	Organisers	Moderator(s)	Present        Surrogate        Non-invitee
			National Union	Labour	Social Credit	Reform	Green-Left
20 July	NTV	Mary Horn Travis Little	S Robinson	P Llewellwyn	P Mears	P Faulkner	P Casimir
11 August	MNTV	David Snow	P Clarkson	P Llewellwyn	NI	NI	NI
18 August	RTVR	Mary Prebble	P Clarkson	P Llewellwyn	P Mears	P Faulkner	P Casimir

Candidate viewed as "performing best" or "most convincing" in each debate
Date	Polling Firm/Source							Undecided. + No Answer	Lead
20 July	Yougov	-	23.3	22.9	5.6	12.5	27.8	7.9	4.5
	Election Forcast	-	28.6	25.3	4.5	12.4	23.6	5.6	3.3
	Huddlesfeild Polling	-	30.4	24.8	3.4	10.1	24.5	6.8	5.6
11 August	Yougov	32.9	-	60.7	-	-	-	6.4	27.8
	Election Forcast	34.3	-	58.3	-	-	-	7.4	24
18 August	Yougov	11.6	-	32.5	7.5	24.6	18.5	5.3	7.9
	RTVR Polling	11.1	-	28.8	7.3	26.5	20.4	5.9	2.3
	Election Forecast	12.1	-	25.8	6.9	28.2	20.6	6.4	2.4
	Huddlesfeild Polling	11.5	-	28.5	7.4	26.3	20.6	5.7	2.2

Controversies

Role of the president

President Nigel Elystan campaigning for the Labour party.

Although not required by the constitution, the President of Rainier is usually seen as being nonpartisan and not involved in day-to-day politics. However, in 2016 a new president Nigel Elystan was elected on a platform to be an "activist president" having been elected whilst still serving as Labour party leader and so during the campaign actively campaigned for Labour. Elystan said that a vote for the National Union or Reform parties would be a "disaster" for the country and pledged as President to block moves that "did not further the interests of the Rainian people" if the NUP or Reform party were in government.

Elystan's campaigning for Labour and criticism of the NUP/Reform parties led to criticism from many ends of the political spectrum. Minister of Domestic Affairs Mary Towers stated that Elystan was going against the constitutional limits of his office. Elystan dismissed this notion stating there was nothing in the constitution that required him to be impartial.

Endorsements

Newspaper	Party endorsed		Notes
Daily Gazette		Labour Party	Endorsed a Labour majority government.
Economic Times		National Union Party	Endorsed a NUP-led government and encouraged anti-Labour tactical voting.
Global Observer		Labour Party	Encouraged anti-Reform tactical voting.
Vancouver Star		Reform Party	Called for a Reform party victory.

Opinion polls

Party approval

Date	Polling Firm/Source						Oth. + No Answer	Lead
24 Aug	2017 election result	24	44	3	19	5	3	20
17 Jul - 18 Jul	Election Forecast	24	44	2	18	5	3	20
24 Jun - 25 Jun	Election Forecast	22	49	3	17	3	4	27
17 May - 18 May	Yougov	25	45	3	19	5	3	20
14 Apl- 15 Apl	Yougov	26	44	3	18	4	2	18
3 Mar - 4 Mar	Yougov	27	40	3	18	4	3	13
19 Feb - 20 Feb	Huddlesfeild Polling	30	37	3	17	6	2	7
13 Jan - 14 Jan	Yougov	30	36	3	18	5	3	6
2017
21 Dec - 22 Dec	Yougov	25	45	3	18	3	2	20
7 Nov - 8 Nov	Yougov	29	40	3	17	4	2	11
15 Oct - 16 Oct	Yougov	30	36	3	18	4	3	6
20 Sep - 21 Sep	Yougov	33	35	3	17	3	3	2
4 Aug - 5 Aug	Yougov	38	39	3	7	4	4	1
16 Jul - 17 Jul	Yougov	35	34	5	10	6	4	1
12 Jun - 13 Jun	Yougov	34	35	5	9	7	5	1
15 May - 16 May	Yougov	35	35	5	10	6	4	Tie
24 Apl - 25 Apl	Yougov	34	37	5	8	7	5	3
17 Mar - 18 Mar	Yougov	33	36	3	10	8	5	3
11 Feb - 12 Feb	Yougov	35	36	5	8	6	5	1
23 Jan - 24 Jan	Yougov	35	36	5	9	6	4	1
2016
17 Dec - 18 Dec	Yougov	38	38	3	10	3	3	Tie
12 Nov - 13 Nov	Yougov	35	34	3	9	5	5	1
2 Oct - 3 Oct	Yougov	34	35	4	10	7	4	1
24 Sep - 25 Sep	Yougov	34	36	3	10	3	5	2
16 Aug - 17 Aug	Yougov	31	38	3	10	7	6	7
20 Jul - 21 Jul	Yougov	35	35	3	10	7	5	Tie
4 Jun - 5 Jun	Yougov	31	36	4	12	7	4	5
17 May - 18 May	Yougov	31	36	4	11	7	5	5
23 Apl - 24 Apl	Yougov	32	38	3	10	6	6	6
14 Mar - 15 Mar	Yougov	37	38	4	10	3	4	1
22 Feb - 23 Feb	Yougov	40	40	4	5	4	4	Tie
17 Jan - 18 Jan	Yougov	34	39	4	6	6	6	5
2015
7 Dec - 8 Dec	Yougov	40	37	4	3	5	5	3
25 Nov - 26 Nov	Yougov	39	38	4	5	5	4	1
23 Oct - 24 Oct	Yougov	40	37	5	4	5	3	3
20 Sep - 21 Sep	Yougov	37	40	4	5	5	4	3
13 Aug - 14 Aug	Yougov	35	43	4	7	5	1	8
27 Jul - 28 Jul	Yougov	35	43	4	7	5	1	8
6 Jun - 7 Jun	Yougov	37	40	4	7	5	2	3
9 May - 10 May	Yougov	37	38	5	8	5	2	1
13 Apl - 14 Apl	Yougov	37	35	5	8	6	2	2
2 Mar - 3 Mar	Yougov	37	34	5	8	6	1	3
22 Feb - 23 Feb	Yougov	39	34	6	8	6	2	5
12 Jan - 13 Jan	Yougov	41	34	4	10	6	2	7
2014
12 Dec - 13 Dec	Yougov	42	32	5	10	6	3	10
29 Nov - 30 Nov	Yougov	42	33	5	10	6	3	9
15 Oct - 16 Oct	Yougov	41	32	10	9	5	1	9
20 Sep - 21 Sep	Yougov	43	32	9	7	5	1	11
29 Aug - 30 Aug	Yougov	44	32	10	7	5	1	12
28 Aug	2013 election result	42	35	7	6	5	4	7

Seat projections

Parties		Election Forecast	Huddlesfeild Polling	Yougov
	National Union	60	80	72
	Labour	138	114	124
	Social Credit	0	2	2
	Reform	55	57	52
	Green-Left Movement	13	13	16
Result		Labour Party Majority	Hung parliament Labour Party plurality	Hung parliament Labour Party plurality

Preferred prime minister

Date	Polling Firm/Source						Oth. + No Answer	Lead
24 Aug - 25 Aug	Yougov	20.1	40.4	1.8	24.8	5.4	7.5	15.6
12 Aug - 13 Aug	Election Forecast	18.9	36.7	2.4	29.2	8.5	4.3	7.5
28 Jul - 29 Jul	Yougov	22.6	30.4	2.3	28.9	9.5	6.3	1.5
18 Jul - 19 Jul	Election Forecast	24.9	28.4	2.1	28.6	10.3	5.7	0.2
13 Jul - 14 Jul	Huddlesfeild Polling	24.2	28.6	1.7	30.7	9.6	5.2	2.1
30 Jun - 1 Jul	Yougov	23.8	29.6	1.3	29.2	10.5	5.6	0.4

Exit poll

An exit poll was released at 10PM when the last ballot was cast. The poll confirmed pollsters predictions that the Labour party would get over 40% of the vote and that the NUP would suffer large losses.

Parties		Seats	Change
	Labour Party	130	32
	National Union Party	70	48
	Reform Party	54	38
	Green-Left Movement	12	1
	Social Credit Party	0	21

Results

The election saw a landslide victory for the opposition Labour party, which achieved 43.94% of the vote and 127 seats - its best result since 1981. Labour performed especially well in the coastal provinces of British Columbia, Oregon and Cascadia almost sweeping the city of Seattle.

The National Union Party recorded its worst result ever in its history, getting only 24.34% of the vote and 70 seats. The Socreds also recorded their worst result failing to pass the 4% threshold for the first time since 1930 - however they won a single constituency seat (Josephine) meaning they returned a single member to the House of Councillors.

The Reform party meanwhile achieved its best result in it history, winning a majority of votes in Idaho and becoming the third largest party with 18.85% of the vote and 54 seats - the best result for a third party since the 1995 election.

The Green-Left Movement saw a small drop in its share of the vote from 4.99% to 4.87% - however it retained its 13 seats getting a single gain. The collapse of the Socreds meant Green-Left went from the fifth to fourth largest party in the House of Councillors.

The NUP's vote share was the worst for a sitting government in over 20 years, being lower than Labour's 27.80% in 2009 but ahead of Labour's 1995 vote share of 17.99%. Labour's 5 million votes were the most received by a party since the 6 million votes gained by the NUP in 1995.

Summary of 2017 House of Councillors election results

Party		Constituency			Party list			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Labour	5,714,319	45.77%	50	5,485,370	43.94%	77	127	+29
	National Union Party	3,705,506	29.68%	48	3,039,294	24.34%	22	70	-48
	Reform Party	1,915,177	15.34%	14	2,353,201	18.85%	40	27	+38
	Green-Left Movement	445,709	3.57%	1	607,514	4.87%	13	14	+1
	Social Credit Party	205,632	1.65%	1	440,354	3.53%	0	1	-20
	Other	304,630	2.44%	0	372,048	2.98%	0	0	–
Invalid/blank votes		193,886	–	–	187,078	–	–	–	–
Total		12,484,859	100	114		100	152	266	–
Registered voters/turnout		18,562,085	67.26%	–			–	–	–

Popular Vote
Labour			43.94%
National Union			24.34%
Reform			18.85%
Green-Left			4.87%
Social Credit			3.53%
Other			2.98%

Parliamentary seats
Labour			47.37%
National Union			26.32%
Reform			20.3%
Green-Left			5.26%
Social Credit			0.75%

Aftermath

Government formation

Following the election Labour leader Alexander Llewellwyn hailed the result as proof that the electorate endorsed change in a progressive direction and stated Labour was "ready for government". Llewellwyn noted the two main progressive parties in parliament - Labour and the Green-Left Movement - held a parliamentary majority and vowed to create some sort of red-green alliance. As such Prime Minister Andrew Clarkson announced his governments resignation an hour after the election result was announced.

In accordance with the constitution Llewellwyn as the leader of the largest party was offered by President Elystan to form a majority government. As such on the 28^th August Labour's Chief Whip Gavin Freeman met with his Green-Left Movement counterpart Damien Herman for talks to either form a coalition government (reportedly favoured by Green-Left) or enter a more flexible confidence and supply agreement (reportedly favoured by Labour).

On the 2^nd September Freeman stated that Labour was exploring a confidence and supply agreement over a coalition government. Green-Left leaders stated that their key demands would be the imposition of a form of carbon pricing and elimination of tuition fees. On the 9^th September Llewellwyn announced that the Labour party and Green-Left Movement had reached agreement on several key issues and that the latter was willing to provide the government with confidence and supply on key issues ranging from education, healthcare and climate policy. A government consisting entirely of Labour ministers was sworn in the next day with Llewellwyn as Prime Minister.

Party leadership changes

Following the announcement of the election results Clarkson announced his immediate resignation from the post of National Union Party taking responsibility for the defeat. The NUP subsequently named Mary Towers as interim leader until a leadership election could be held. Social Credit leader Rhondri Mears also announced his resignation - the lack of a Socred caucus however meant that its sole remaining MP, Damian Foot, became leader.