Wellington City mayoral election, 1956
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| Turnout | 38,105 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The Wellington City mayoral election, 1956 was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1956, elections were held for the Mayor of Wellington plus other local government positions including fifteen city councillors. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.
The 1956 mayoral election was conducted amidst a selection controversy by the right-leaning Citizens' Association. Under the impression that incumbent mayor Robert Macalister was not intending to seek a third term as Mayor, Ernest Toop applied to gain nomination as the official Citizens' candidacy. As Toop was the only applicant he was successful. However, Macalister had intended to run for Mayor again and assumed he, as incumbent, would gain automatic nomination. Undeterred, Macalister ran for Mayor again as an Independent which split the Citizens' vote enabling Labour's Frank Kitts to win the mayoralty. Kitts became Wellington's first Labour Mayor in 46 years following David McLaren's defeat in 1913.
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