1993 New Zealand general election

[2] Having broken electoral campaign promises and embarked on supply-side economics and wide-sweeping cuts during his first term, Bolger led the most unpopular government since the Great Depression.[3] The neoliberal actions of Ruth Richardson, his Minister of Finance, were termed Ruthanasia by the media, and her Mother of all Budgets in 1991 caused huge protests.Mike Moore, ousted by Bolger in a landslide just three years before, attacked National's caucus as dangerous right-wing extremists, and enjoyed considerable personal popularity.The Labour Party had become unpopular for its ongoing economic reforms, nicknamed Rogernomics after Minister of Finance Roger Douglas, which were based around liberalisation, privatisation, and the removal of tariffs and subsidies.The party had fought the 1990 election saying that the Labour government's program was too radical, and was being carried out without any thought of the social consequences – Jim Bolger spoke about "the Decent Society", promising a return to a more moderate and balanced platform.[12] The budget was lamented by the conservative wing of the National Party; former Prime Minister Sir Robert Muldoon resigned from his Tamaki electorate in protest of Richardson's policies, triggering a by-election.The culmination of the larger decade-long New Zealand electoral reform process, the referendum was held following the September 1992 indicative referendum, which saw 85% of voters voting for change from the existing First Past The Post (FPP) system, and 70% choosing the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) as its preferred replacement: a proportional system which would make it easier for smaller parties to win seats.Preliminary results based on election night counts saw the country facing its first hung parliament since 1931, with no party gaining the 50 seats required for a majority."[17] On election night result with the two major parties tied, the Governor-General Dame Catherine Tizard asked her predecessor Sir David Beattie to form a committee, along with three retired appeal court judges, to decide whom to appoint as prime minister.[15] The 1993–1996 parliamentary term would see a number of defections from both major parties, meaning that National would eventually be forced to make alliances to retain power.