1956 Western Australian state election

* * *

| <- 1953 | 7 April 1956 | 1959 ->

|
|

* * *

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  | 3  | 5
Percentage  | 49.70%  | 38.37%
Swing  | 0.07  | 4.49

* * *

| 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

[edit]

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

[edit]

See also: Results of the Western Australian state election, 1956 (Legislative Assembly)

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

[edit]

* Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1953–1956
* Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1956–1959
* Candidates of the 1956 Western Australian state election

## References

[edit]

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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