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

Legislative Council

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

LCL

• Les Craig (South-West)
• Frank Gibson (Suburban)

Candidates

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

Central

1956 Western Australian Legislative Council election: Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Country	Leslie Diver	unopposed
	Country hold		Swing

Metropolitan

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

1956 Western Australian Legislative Council election: Midland

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Country	Ray Jones	unopposed
	Country hold		Swing

North

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

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

1956 Western Australian Legislative Council election South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Country	Jack Thomson	unopposed
	Country hold		Swing

South-East

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

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

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

1956 Western Australian Legislative Council election: West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Evan Davies	unopposed
	Labor hold		Swing

See also

• Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council, 1956–1958