1956 Cook Islands general election

Number 57: New article

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'''General elections''' were held in the [[Cook Islands]] in March 1956.<ref name=PIM1>[https://ift.tt/30HFcRc Keen Interest In CI Elections] ''Pacific Islands Monthly'', April 1956, p24</ref> The elections took the form of an election to Rarotonga Island Council, whose sole European member also automatically became the only elected member of the Legislative Council. Incumbent member [[Henley McKegg]] was narrowly re-elected, defeating R.J.A. Ingram by three votes.

==Electoral system==
The Cook Islands Legislative Council consisted of ten members elected by island councils (four from Rarotonga and six from smaller islands), ten civil servants appointed by the [[Governor-General of New Zealand]] (the Chief Medical Officer, the Director of Agriculture, the Education Officer, six Resident Agents and the Treasurer) and the [[Resident Commissioner of the Cook Islands|Resident Commissioner]], who was president of the council. The sole European member of Rarotonga Island Council automatically became the island's representative in the Legislative Council, and was the only member of the Legislative Council to be directly elected.<ref>Richard Phillip Gilson (1980) [https://ift.tt/30he537 The Cook Islands, 1820-1950] p200</ref>

Elections to Rarotonga Island Council were held every three years, with the six Cook Islander members elected from single-member constituencies based on the land survey districts, and the European member from the entire island.<ref>Gilson, p201</ref>

==Results==
===European member===
{| class=wikitable style=text-align:right
!Candidate
!Votes
!%
!Notes
|-
|align=left|[[Henley McKegg]]||65||51.2||align=left|Re-elected
|-
|align=left|R.J.A. Ingram||62||48.8||
|-
|align=left|Invalid/blank votes||2||–||
|-
|align=left|'''Total'''||'''129'''||'''100'''||
|-
|align=left colspan=4|Source: [https://ift.tt/30HFcRc Pacific Islands Monthly]
|}

===Cook Islander members===
In the Cook Islander seats, voter turnout was higher than any previous election. The [[Cook Islands Progressive Association]] won three of the six seats, with another party member finishing joint first in a tied seat.<ref name=PIM1/>

==References==




[[Category:1956 elections in Oceania|Cook Islands]]
[[Category:1956 in the Cook Islands]]
[[Category:Elections in the Cook Islands]]

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