Enderronian federal election, 1986

A federal election was held in Enderron on Saturday 18 October 1986 to elect the 125 members of the 11th Enderronian Parliament.

The result was a hung parliament, with the opposition United Party, led by Mike Behrens, winning a plurality over the incumbent governing Social Democratic Party, led by Prime Minister James Thorpe.

There was a significant sentiment against the two major parties, the Social Democrats and United, at this election. As such, the combined vote share of the two parties fell sharply, dropping below 70 percent for the first time in modern Enderronian history. Conversely, there was a large rise in votes for minor parties, particularly the Conservative Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Progressive Party (the latter two being the successors to the New Democratic Party, which was dissolved in 1985). The Conservatives, led by Jonathan Bowen, supplanted the Enderron National Party as the third-largest party in parliament, and became the first minor party to win more than 10 percent of the vote since the New Democratic Party did so in the 1946 federal election.

The Social Democratic Party, which had been in power since 1970, lost its majority, suffering a 12 percent swing in the popular vote and losing 16 seats. The government had been seen as increasingly tired and unfocused, and had been behind in opinion polling for more than two years. Meanwhile, the United Party was able to gain 16 seats on the back of preference flows from the Conservatives, Nationals and Liberal Democrats, despite making a gain of less than 1 percent in the popular vote.

In the end, the United Party won 61 seats, falling two seats short of a majority, while the Social Democrats won 54 seats. The Conservative Party, having won 5 seats, found itself in a pivotal role in the formation of a new government.

After a week of negotiations, United was able to form a coalition government with the Conservatives, with Jonathan Bowen becoming Deputy Prime Minister. This election thus marked the end of 16 years of continuous Social Democratic government, and the only time between 1970 and 2002 where the Social Democrats did not win a majority of seats, and thus the only time in that 32-year period where the party did not form government. With the most-voted party (the Social Democrats) winning just 32.2 percent of the vote, this remains the most fragmented election result in Enderron in terms of vote share.

Seats changing hands

 * Minato, TJ was won by Makoto Tahara of the Social Democratic Party at the previous election. Tahara left that party in 1984 and contested the 1986 election as a member of the Tojima People's Party.
 * Mount Gilbert, MA, won by United at the previous election, was won by the Social Democrats in a 1985 by-election. The margin listed above is the by-election margin.
 * Oxley, CO was won by Wally Koepke of the United Party at the previous election. Koepke left that party in 1986 and contested the 1986 election as a member of the Conservative Party.