1956 Saskatchewan general election

1956 Saskatchewan general election

←  1952 June 20, 1956 (1956-06-20) 1960  →
←  outgoing members members  →
53 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan 27 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   LIB SC Leader Tommy Douglas Alexander McDonald — Party Co-operative Commonwealth Liberal Social Credit Leader since July 17, 1942 November 26, 1954 — Leader's seat Weyburn Moosomin — Last election 42 11 0 Seats won 36 14 3 Seat change 6 3 3 Popular vote 249,634 167,427 118,491 Percentage 45.3% 30.3% 21.5% Swing 8.8pp 8.9pp 17.6pp
Premier before election Tommy Douglas Co-operative Commonwealth Premier after election Tommy Douglas Co-operative Commonwealth

The 1956 Saskatchewan general election, the thirteenth in the province's history, was held on June 20, 1956, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation government of Premier Tommy Douglas was re-elected to a fourth consecutive majority government.

Summary

Tommy Douglas' Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) secured a majority government, despite its share of the popular vote decreasing close to 10%. The party won 6 fewer seats than it had in the 1952 election. ^[1] The election victory secured a fourth term in office.

The Liberal Party of Alexander H. McDonald also lost votes, but picked up an additional three seats. ^[1]

The Social Credit Party rebounded from its poor results in previous elections, surging to win over 21% of the popular vote. ^[1] However, because this vote was widely distributed across the province, the party won only 3 seats in the legislature under the British parliamentary first-past-the-post system.

Results

Party		Party Leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular Vote
				1952	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Tommy Douglas	53	42	36	-14.3%	249,634	45.25%	-8.81%
	Liberal	Alexander McDonald	52	11	14	+27.3%	167,427	30.34%	-8.93%
	Social Credit		53	–	3		118,491	21.48%	+17.58%
	Progressive Conservative	Alvin Hamilton	9	–	–	–	10,921	1.98%	+0.01%
	Independent		2	–	–	–	4,714	0.85%	+0.57%
	Labor–Progressive		2	–	–	–	536	0.10%	-0.11%
Total			171	53	53	–	551,723	100%
Source: Elections Saskatchewan

Percentages

Popular vote CCF   45.25% Liberal   30.34% Social Credit   21.48% PC   1.98% Others   0.95%

Seats summary CCF   67.92% Liberal   26.42% Social Credit   5.66%

See also

• List of political parties in Saskatchewan
• List of Saskatchewan provincial electoral districts

References

1. Leeson, Howard A., ed. (2001). Saskatchewan Politics: Into the Twenty-First Century . Regina: Canadian Plains Research Centre. p. 409. ISBN   0-88977-131-6.