British Honduras general election, 1957

British Honduras general election, 1957

20 March 1957

All 9 seats in the British Honduras Legislative Assembly   First party Second party Third party   HIP NP Leader George Cadle Price Leigh Richardson W. H. Courtenay Party PUP HIP NP Alliance PUP-GWU Leader since 1956 1956 1951 Leader's seat Belize North Belize West (lost seat)[1] (not a candidate) Last election 8 seats (new party) 1 seat Seats won 9 0 0 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 6,876 2,057 1,449 Percentage 61.32% 18.34% 12.92% Swing 3.72 18.34 10.06

Majority party leader before election George Cadle Price PUP Elected Majority party leader George Cadle Price PUP

A legislative election was held in British Honduras on 20 March 1957.

The ruling People's United Party won all nine seats contested.^[2] This was the first of two occasions they would sweep the House. It was the PUP's first election under the leadership of George Cadle Price. Price would lead the party until 1996.

The Honduran Independence Party (HIP), a forerunner of the modern United Democratic Party, was founded the previous year by an anti-Price faction within the PUP led by former PUP leader Leigh Richardson. The party fielded five out of a possible nine candidates, but failed to win any seats.^[2]

The election was the last for the pro-colonial National Party. Charles Westby, the NP's only successful candidate in the 1954 election, ran as an independent.^[2] The HIP and NP merged in 1958 to form the National Independence Party.

 Summary of the 1957 British Honduras Legislative Assembly election results

Parties	Votes	%	Seats
People's United Party	6,876	61.32	9
Honduran Independence Party	2,057	18.34	-
National Party	1,449	12.92	-
Independents	832	7.42	-
Total valid votes	11,214	100.00	9
Invalid votes	420
Total votes cast (turnout: 52.7%)	11,634
Registered voters	22,058

References

1. Richardson was elected to the seat in 1954 as a PUP member.
2. General Elections 1957, Belize Elections and Boundaries Commission. (accessed 19 November 2014)