1956 Western Australian state election
7 April 1956
All 50 seats in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
26 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Albert Hawke Ross McLarty
Party Labor Liberal/Country coalition
Leader since 3 July 1951 14 December 1946
Leader's seat Northam Murray-Wellington
Last election 26 seats 24 seats
Seats won 29 seats 19 seats
Seat change Increase3 Decrease5
Percentage 49.70% 38.37%
Swing Decrease0.07 Decrease4.49
Premier before election

Albert Hawke
Labor

 Elected Premier

Albert Hawke
Labor

Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 7 April 1956 to elect all 50 members to the Legislative Assembly. The Labor Party, led by Premier Albert Hawke, won a second term in office against the Liberal-Country coalition, led by Sir Ross McLarty.

Key dates

Date Event
21 February 1956 Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.[1]
29 February 1956 Close of nominations.
7 April 1956 Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
20 April 1956 The Hawke Ministry was reconstituted.
23 April 1956 The writ was returned and the results formally declared.

Results

Western Australian state election, 7 April 1956
Legislative Assembly
<< 1953–1959 >>

Enrolled voters 262,384[1]
Votes cast 241,863 Turnout 92.18 –1.30
Informal votes 6,851 Informal 2.83 +0.22
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes  % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 116,793 49.70 –0.07 29 + 3
  Liberal and Country 98,335 33.13 –4.82 11 – 4
  Country 12,319 5.24 +0.33 8 – 1
  Ind. Lib. 15,822 6.73 +4.89 2 + 2
  Communist 1,167 0.50 –0.22 0 ± 0
  Independent 11,045 4.70 –0.10 0 ± 0
Total 241,863     50  
1 342,018 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 16 seats (32% of the total) were uncontested—5 Labor seats (seven less than 1953) representing 24,951 enrolled voters, 5 Liberal seats (two more than 1953) representing 24,834 enrolled voters, and 6 Country seats (one less than 1953) representing 29,839 enrolled voters.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Electoral Act, 1907–1953. Legislative Assembly General Election, 1956". Western Australia Government Gazette. 24 February 1956. p. 1956:611.
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