Election Name: | 1955 Prince Edward Island general election |
Country: | Prince Edward Island |
Type: | parliamentary |
Ongoing: | no |
Party Colour: | no |
Party Name: | no |
Previous Election: | 1951 Prince Edward Island general election |
Previous Year: | 1951 |
Previous Mps: | 47th General Assembly of Prince Edward Island |
Elected Mps: | members |
Next Election: | 1959 Prince Edward Island general election |
Next Year: | 1959 |
Next Mps: | 49th General Assembly of Prince Edward Island |
Seats For Election: | All 30 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island |
Majority Seats: | 16 |
Leader1: | Alex W. Matheson |
Leader Since1: | 1953 |
Leaders Seat1: | 4th Kings |
Last Election1: | 24 seats, 51.6% |
Seats1: | 27 |
Seat Change1: | 3 |
Popular Vote1: | 44,918 |
Percentage1: | 55.0% |
Swing1: | 3.4pp |
Leader2: | Reginald Bell |
Leader Since2: | 1950 |
Leaders Seat2: | 2nd Queens |
Last Election2: | 6 seats, 46.7% |
Seats2: | 3 |
Seat Change2: | 3 |
Popular Vote2: | 36,705 |
Percentage2: | 45.0% |
Swing2: | 1.7pp |
Premier | |
Posttitle: | Premier after election |
Before Election: | Alex W. Matheson |
After Election: | Alex W. Matheson |
The 1955 Prince Edward Island general election was held in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island on May 25, 1955.[1]
The governing Liberals of Premier Alex W. Matheson increased their majority in the Legislature, winning three more seats over the opposition Progressive Conservatives led by Reginald Bell, who would resign as leader in 1957 following this election. Matheson took over as premier from his predecessor J. Walter Jones in May 1953 following his appointment to the Senate.
This election marked the first and only time (as of 2016) that a party has won six consecutive general elections on Prince Edward Island.
27 | 3 | |
Liberal | PC |
The Legislature of Prince Edward Island had two levels of membership from 1893 to 1996 - Assemblymen and Councillors. This was a holdover from when the Island had a bicameral legislature, the General Assembly and the Legislative Council.
In 1893, the Legislative Council was abolished and had its membership merged with the Assembly, though the two titles remained separate and were elected by different electoral franchises. Assembleymen were elected by all eligible voters of within a district, while Councillors were only elected by landowners within a district.[2]
District | Assemblyman | Party | Councillor | Party | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st Kings | William Acorn | Liberal | Brenton St. John | Liberal | |||||
2nd Kings | Harvey Douglas | Liberal | Leo Rossiter | Progressive Conservative | |||||
3rd Kings | Joseph Campbell | Liberal | Keir Clark | Liberal | |||||
4th Kings | Lorne Bonnell | Liberal | Alexander Wallace Matheson | Liberal | |||||
5th Kings | Stephen Hessian | Liberal | George Saville | Liberal |
District | Assemblyman | Party | Councillor | Party | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st Queens | Frederic Large | Liberal | W. F. Alan Stewart | Liberal Progressive Conservative | |||||
2nd Queens | George Kitson | Liberal | Reginald Bell | Progressive Conservative | |||||
3rd Queens | Russell C. Clark | Liberal | Eugene Cullen | Liberal | |||||
4th Queens | Dougald MacKinnon | Liberal | Harold P. Smith | Liberal | |||||
5th Queens | Earle MacDonald | Liberal | Alex MacIsaac | Liberal |
District | Assemblyman | Party | Councillor | Party | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st Prince | Prosper Arsenault | Liberal | Fred Ramsay | Liberal | |||||
2nd Prince | George Dewar | Progressive Conservative | Forrest Phillips | Liberal | |||||
3rd Prince | Augustin Gallant | Liberal | Frank MacNutt | Liberal | |||||
4th Prince | J. George MacKay | Liberal | | Cleveland Baker | Liberal | ||||
5th Prince | Edward P. Foley | Liberal | Morley Bell | Liberal |