1956 Western Australian Legislative Council election

Elections were held in the Australian state of Western Australia on 7 April 1956 to elect 10 of the 30 members of the state's Legislative Council.

Results

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Legislative Council

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Western Australian state election, 7 April 1956[1]
Legislative Council

Enrolled voters 100,773
Votes cast 50,935 Turnout 73.3 +24.3
Informal votes 855 Informal 1.7 +0.7
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats
won
Seats
held
  Liberal and Country 26,178 52.3 +12.1 3 9
  Labor 23,018 46.0 –9.0 4 13
  Country * * * 3 8
  Independent 884 1.8 –2.2 0 0
Total 50,080     10 30

Retiring Members

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Candidates

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Province Held by Labor candidates LCL candidates Country candidates Independent candidates
 
Central Country Leslie Diver
Metropolitan LCL Herbert Fletcher Keith Watson Ray O'Connor (Ind. Lib)
Midland Country Ray Jones
North Labor Harry Strickland Edmund Webb
North-East Labor Eric Heenan James Boyd
South Country Jack Thomson
South-East LCL Archibald McGillivray John Cunningham
South-West LCL Ernest Stapleton Graham MacKinnon
Suburban LCL George Jeffery William McPherson
West Labor Evan Davies

Election results

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Central

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1956 Western Australian Legislative Council election: Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Country Leslie Diver unopposed
Country hold Swing

Metropolitan

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1956 Western Australian Legislative Council election: Metropolitan
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal and Country Keith Watson 8,873 59.6 N/A
Labor Herbert Fletcher 5,127 34.5 +34.5
Independent Liberal Ray O'Connor 884 5.9 +5.9
Total formal votes 14,884 98.2 N/A
Informal votes 275 1.8 N/A
Turnout 15,159 73.0 N/A
Liberal and Country hold Swing N/A
  • Preferences were not distributed.

Midland

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1956 Western Australian Legislative Council election: Midland
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Country Ray Jones unopposed
Country hold Swing

North

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1956 Western Australian Legislative Council election: North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Harry Strickland 906 63.7 +12.2
Liberal and Country Edmund Webb 517 36.3 +2.7
Total formal votes 1,423 98.7 +1.4
Informal votes 18 1.3 −1.4
Turnout 1,423 82.4 +3.4
Labor hold Swing N/A

North-East

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1956 Western Australian Legislative Council election: North-East
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Eric Heenan 2,113 65.8 +7.7
Liberal and Country James Boyd 1,098 34.2 −7.7
Total formal votes 3,211 98.2 −0.8
Informal votes 58 1.8 +0.8
Turnout 3,269 75.1 +2.0
Labor hold Swing +7.7

South

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1956 Western Australian Legislative Council election South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Country Jack Thomson unopposed
Country hold Swing

South-East

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1956 Western Australian Legislative Council election: South-East
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal and Country John Cunningham 2,225 51.0 +3.3
Labor Archibald McGillivray 2,141 49.0 −3.3
Total formal votes 4,366 98.9 +0.1
Informal votes 53 1.1 −0.1
Turnout 4,419 75.9 +12.1
Liberal and Country hold Swing +3.3

South-West

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1956 Western Australian Legislative Council election: South-West
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal and Country Graham MacKinnon 4,457 59.8 N/A
Labor Ernest Stapleton 2,992 40.2 +40.2
Total formal votes 7,449 98.5 N/A
Informal votes 115 1.5 N/A
Turnout 7,564 67.7 N/A
Liberal and Country hold Swing N/A

Suburban

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1956 Western Australian Legislative Council election: Suburban
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor George Jeffery 9,739 52.0 +4.0
Liberal and Country William McPherson 9,008 48.0 −4.0
Total formal votes 18,747 98.2 −1.0
Informal votes 336 1.8 +1.0
Turnout 19,083 74.5 +25.7
Labor gain from Liberal and Country Swing +4.0

West

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1956 Western Australian Legislative Council election: West
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Evan Davies unopposed
Labor hold Swing

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Black, David (1991). Legislative Council of Western Australia: membership register, electoral law and statistics 1890-1989. Perth, WA: Western Australian Parliamentary History Project. ISBN 0730936414.