Union of Conscientiously Work-Shy Elements

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The Union of Conscientiously Work-Shy Elements ("Sammenslutning af Bevidst Arbejdssky Elementer", now defunct) was an unusually successful frivolous political party in Denmark. It was founded in Aarhus in 1979 by a comedian, Jacob Haugaard (born 1952), and a few friends. Haugaard stood as a candidate in Aarhus in each parliamentary election, until in September 1994 he was very unexpectedly elected to the Folketing with 23,253 personal votes. No-one had previously achieved election to the Folketing as an individual (bypassing the normal 2% election threshold for parties).

He made the following promises in the 1994 election:

Tail winds on all cycle paths
Better weather
Better Christmas presents
Less sex in school staff rooms (withdrawn during the campaign - he said it had been brought to his attention that sex in the staff room was a long-established privilege for teachers and as such could not be abolished)
Nutella in army field rations
The placing of a public toilet in the park in Aarhus where he after each election spent his state party funding on serving beer and sausages to his voters.

(The last two promises were actually fulfilled during his term in office.)

While the party had been intended as a joke, he found himself often having the deciding vote in a hung parliament, and took his duties seriously until the parliamentary election in March 1998. He then announced his retirement from politics.