2018 Hawaiian general election

An **election** was held in Hawaii on 21 July 2018 to elect all members of the House of Representatives. Parliament decided the election's date after passing legislation on 2 February 2018, with the election being constitutionally mandated to fall between 1 June and 31 August 2018.

In the lead-up to the election, polling showed that the Hawaii National Party were expected to struggle, largely credited to the unpopularity of the Chang ministry. Additionally, Hui Pū ʻAna had gradually been building up a base with young and educated voters, but additionally rural voters, and were expected to possibly triple their seat count. With the dip in support for the Hawaii National Party, both the Workers Party and Democratic-Conservative Party were hoping to pick up a large amount of their supporters, although the rise of Hui Pū ʻAna was proving this difficult.

At the conclusion of the election, the Hawaii National Party was considered the biggest loser, losing their parliamentary majority despite maintaining a plurality. A number of parties picked up seats at the expense of the Hawaii National Party's losses, with Hui Pū ʻAna nearly tripling their seat count. Despite the Hawaii National Party maintaining a plurality and thus continuing as the largest party in parliament, Hui Pū ʻAna was considered to be the winner of the election due to their widespread increases. Each party's position in parliament did not change, with the Workers Party remaining the chief opposition party and largest left-wing party in parliament, and the Democratic-Conservative Party remaining the largest right-wing opposition party, while Ko Makou Hawaiʻi remained the smallest party represented in parliament.

Due to the widespread losses, David Chang resigned as party chairperson in the aftermath of the election, leading Queen Keʻalohilani to invite Paul Donovan and the Workers Party to form a government, which was not expected to be successful. Donovan failed to form a government with the other parties in parliament, and after Kenzie Kanazawa was elected the new Hawaii National Party chairperson in an emergency leadership election, she was invited by Keʻalohilani to form a government. Kanazawa ultimately negotiated a coalition agreement with Hui Pū ʻAna, and the first Kanazawa ministry was sworn in on 18 September 2018.

## Date

On 2 February 2018, the House of Representatives passed legislation to hold the election on 21 July 2018. The Hawaiian constitution mandates that all scheduled elections be held four years following the previous, between the first of the preceding month and the last of the succeeding month. This meant that the election could have been held between 1 June and 31 August 2018. The Hawaiian constitution also allows for snap elections.

## Electoral system

### Constituencies

The 185 members of the House of Representatives are elected in seven electoral constituencies, corresponding with the main Hawaiian Islands.

The constituencies of Hawaii, Maui, and Oahu conduct their elections using open party lists and proportional representation, where political parties construct a list of candidates to stand in each constituency. Voters cast their ballot for an entire list, and may cross out names or rearrange the order of the list if they wish. Seats are then allocated using the d'Hondt method, with a 3% electoral threshold.

The constituencies of Kauai, Lanai, and Molokai conduct their elections using single transferrable vote, where political parties select candidates to stand in each constituency but do not place them in an order. Voters then select one candidate to vote for in addition to several back-up choices – in Kauai, voters must select at least seven back-ups, while in Molokai, they must select at least three, and in Lanai, at least two. The least popular candidate will be eliminated and their votes transferred based on voters' marked back-up preferences. Eliminations continue until enough candidates are declared elected or until there are only as many remaining candidates as there are unfilled seats, at which point the remaining candidates are declared elected.

In the constituency of Niihau, first-past-the-post voting is used. Political parties can nominate a single candidate to run, while each voter will receive one ballot to cast for one candidate. The candidate with the most votes, regardless of whether they obtain a majority, will be elected.

### Eligibility

Only Hawaiian citizens who are aged 18 or older on the day of the election may vote or stand as candidates. Candidates in all constituencies but Oahu must reside in the constituency they are standing for election in; candidates in Oahu may reside in any constituency. Voting-eligible Hawaiians who are residing abroad may also vote, but their ballots must be mailed-in at least three days prior to the date of the election. Hawaiians abroad will vote in whichever constituency they last resided, or if they never resided in Hawaii, where their last Hawaiian resident ancestor resided.

## Contesting parties

The following parties were represented in parliament following the 2014 election.

## MPs not standing for reelection

The following MPs opted not to stand for reelection in the 2018 general election.

## Aftermath

Following the announcement of the results, it emerged that the Hawaii National Party had won the election after amassing 73 seats; while this gave them a plurality, they had also lost their previous 97-seat majority, which led to commentators considering their performance in the election to be one of the worst. As they still held a plurality, it was highly likely that David Chang would continue to serve as prime minister, but he later opted to resign from his position as party chairperson due to the party's performance. While Queen Keʻalohilani would have invited the HNP chairperson to form a government, Chang's resignation led her to have to invite Paul Donovan of the Workers Party instead.

Due to the Workers Party's amount of seats, it was considered highly unlikely that Donovan would be able to form a successful government. He nonetheless opened discussions with Hui Pū ʻAna, the Green Party, and Ko Makou Hawaiʻi to form a minority government on 23 July 2018, but discussions quickly evaporated after Hui Pū ʻAna pulled out in order to wait for the conclusion of the HNP leadership election, and the Green Party did not believe that the proposed government would be stable enough to govern. After these discussions fell apart and it emerged that a successful government could not be formed without the Democratic-Conservative Party, Donovan returned his mandate to Keʻalohilani.

After Kenzie Kanazawa was elected HNP chairperson on 30 August, Keʻalohilani invited her to form a government. She opened discussions with Hui Pū ʻAna regarding a possible coalition government on 31 August, and a coalition agreement between the two parties was reached on 12 September. After signing their coalition deal, Kanazawa and Olivia Abe began discussing ministerial appointments. The Kanazawa ministry was subsequently announced on 18 September, and sworn in by Keʻalohilani later that day.