1956 Dutch general election
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
General elections were held in the Netherlands on 13 June 1956.[1] For the first time, the Labour Party (PvdA) emerged as the largest party, winning 34 of the 100 seats in the House of Representatives.
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
13 June 1956
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 100 seats in the House of Representatives 51 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 95.50% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The elections led to the continuation of a four-party coalition government consisting of the PvdA, Catholic People's Party, Anti-Revolutionary Party and Christian Historical Union.
Results
.svg) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
| Labour Party | 1,872,209 | 32.69 | 34 | +4 | |
| Catholic People's Party | 1,815,130 | 31.69 | 33 | +3 | |
| Anti-Revolutionary Party | 567,535 | 9.91 | 10 | –2 | |
| People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | 502,530 | 8.77 | 9 | 0 | |
| Christian Historical Union | 482,915 | 8.43 | 8 | –1 | |
| Communist Party of the Netherlands | 272,054 | 4.75 | 4 | –2 | |
| Reformed Political Party | 129,517 | 2.26 | 2 | 0 | |
| Reformed Political League | 37,206 | 0.65 | 0 | 0 | |
| National Union | 28,960 | 0.51 | 0 | New | |
| Dutch Opposition Union | 19,503 | 0.34 | 0 | New | |
| Total | 5,727,559 | 100.00 | 100 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 5,727,559 | 97.92 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 121,910 | 2.08 | |||
| Total votes | 5,849,469 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 6,125,210 | 95.50 | |||
| Source: CBS,[2] Nohlen & Stöver | |||||
By province
| Province | PvdA | KVP | ARP | VVD | CHU | CPN | SGP | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Drenthe |
44.6 | 6.9 | 15.7 | 15.2 | 12.2 | 3.4 | 0.3 | 1.8 |
 Friesland |
40.9 | 6.9 | 22.0 | 8.4 | 16.0 | 3.5 | 0.7 | 1.5 |
 Gelderland |
31.3 | 32.2 | 9.3 | 7.9 | 13.1 | 1.4 | 3.8 | 1.1 |
 Groningen |
42.2 | 5.9 | 17.3 | 12.9 | 9.6 | 7.6 | 0.2 | 4.2 |
 Limburg |
17.5 | 78.6 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 |
 North Brabant |
16.4 | 74.9 | 2.7 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
 North Holland |
37.3 | 23.7 | 8.2 | 11.8 | 5.1 | 11.9 | 0.6 | 1.4 |
 Overijssel |
31.8 | 28.0 | 10.2 | 7.6 | 13.1 | 4.2 | 3.0 | 2.2 |
 South Holland |
37.9 | 18.7 | 12.3 | 11.3 | 9.4 | 4.8 | 3.9 | 1.7 |
 Southern IJsselmeer Polders |
28.0 | 24.8 | 19.6 | 7.6 | 14.5 | 1.4 | 2.4 | 1.7 |
 Utrecht |
32.6 | 25.8 | 12.9 | 9.3 | 11.1 | 2.6 | 3.7 | 2.0 |
 Zeeland |
32.0 | 20.9 | 12.8 | 8.1 | 15.4 | 0.6 | 9.0 | 1.3 |
Aftermath
As a result of a constitutional amendment later in 1956, the House of Representatives was increased from 100 to 150 members on 6 November 1956. Rather than hold fresh elections, the results of the June elections were recalculated on the basis of 150 members.
.svg) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Seats | |||||
| Original | New total | +/– | ||||
| Labour Party | 34 | 50 | +16 | |||
| Catholic People's Party | 33 | 49 | +16 | |||
| Anti-Revolutionary Party | 10 | 15 | +5 | |||
| People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | 9 | 13 | +4 | |||
| Christian Historical Union | 8 | 13 | +5 | |||
| Communist Party of the Netherlands | 4 | 7 | +3 | |||
| Reformed Political Party | 2 | 3 | +1 | |||
| Total | 100 | 150 | +50 | |||