title: 1956 Western Australian state election
text: # 1956 Western Australian state election
  
  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. |
  | 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 | Enrolled voters | 262,384 | | | | |
  | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
  | Votes cast | Votes cast | 241,863 | | Turnout | 92.18 | –1.30 |
  | Informal votes | Informal votes | 6,851 | | Informal | 2.83 | +0.22 |
  | Summary of votes by party |||||||
  | 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 | 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.
  