Tasmanian state election, 1956

← 1955

13 October 1956

1959 →

	First party	Second party

Leader	Robert Cosgrove	Tim Jackson
Party	Labor	Liberal
Leader since	25 February 1948	26 June 1956
Leader's seat	Denison	Franklin
Last election	15 seats	15 seats
Seats won	15 seats	15 seats
Seat change	0	0
Percentage	50.27%	43.61%
Swing	2.36	1.74

Premier before election

Robert Cosgrove
Labor

Resulting Premier

Robert Cosgrove
Labor

The Tasmanian state election, 1956 was held on 13 October 1956 in the Australian state of Tasmania to elect 30 members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The election used the Hare-Clark proportional representation system — six members were elected from each of five electorates.

The 1955 election had resulted in a parliamentary deadlock between the Labor and Liberal parties, although Robert Cosgrove remained Premier of Tasmania. On 11 September 1956, Cosgrove's minister for housing, Carrol Bramich, resigned from the ALP following an internal row, party switching and giving the Liberal opposition a majority. Cosgrove obtained a dissolution of parliament from the Governor of Tasmania, and an election was called for 13 October.

The electorate of Darwin had been renamed in 1955 to Braddon, after former Premier Sir Edward Braddon.

Following the 1956 election, the ALP and Liberals remained in a 15-seat deadlock. Despite Bramich's defection to the Liberals, Labor picked up a seat in Bramich's electorate of Braddon, maintaining the status quo with Cosgrove and the ALP still in power.

...
Wikipedia