1956 Dutch general election

1956 Dutch general election
← 1952 13 June 1956 1959 →
All 150 seats in the House of Representatives
76 seats needed for a majority
Turnout95.5% ( 0.5 pp)
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/–
PvdA Willem Drees 32.7% 50 +20
KVP Carl Romme 31.7% 49 +19
ARP Jelle Zijlstra 9.9% 15 +3
VVD Pieter Oud 8.8% 13 +4
CHU Hendrik Tilanus 8.4% 13 +4
CPN Paul de Groot 4.7% 7 +1
SGP Pieter Zandt 2.3% 3 +1
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Seats
Cabinet before Cabinet after
Second Drees cabinet
PvdA–KVP–ARP–CHU		 Third Drees cabinet
PvdA–KVP–ARP–CHU

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 13 June 1956. For the first time, the Labour Party (PvdA) emerged as the largest party, winning 50 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives.

The elections led to the continuation of the four-party coalition government, consisting of the PvdA, Catholic People's Party, Anti-Revolutionary Party and Christian Historical Union.

Electoral system

Prior to the elections the number of seats in the House of Representatives was raised from 100 to 150. This meant that the electoral threshold was reduced from 1% to 0.67%.

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Labour Party1,872,20132.6950+20
Catholic People's Party1,815,28831.6949+19
Anti-Revolutionary Party567,5299.9115+3
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy502,5308.7713+4
Christian Historical Union482,9158.4313+4
Communist Party of the Netherlands272,0504.757+1
Reformed Political Party129,5152.263+1
Reformed Political League37,2080.6500
National Union28,9600.510New
Dutch Opposition Union [nl]19,5030.340New
Total5,727,699100.00150+50
Valid votes5,727,69997.90
Invalid/blank votes122,6262.10
Total votes5,850,325100.00
Registered voters/turnout6,122,73295.55
Source: Kiesraad

By province

Results 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

References

  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1396 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ^ Nohlen & Stöver, p1413
  3. ^ a b Nohlen & Stöver, p1385
  4. ^ a b "Tweede Kamer 13 juni 1956". Kiesraad (in Dutch). Retrieved 28 November 2023.