1955 Singaporean general election

1955 Singaporean general election
elected members →
25 of the 32 seats in the Legislative Assembly ; 17 seats needed for a majority
Registered	300,199
Turnout	52.66% ( 0.61pp)
	Results by constituency
Chief Minister before election; Position established;	Chief Minister after election; David Marshall ; LF

Last updated April 03, 2024

General elections were held in Singapore on 2 April 1955 to elect members to the 25 elected seats in the Legislative Assembly. Nomination day was on 28 February 1955.

Background

Following the promulgation of the Rendel Constitution, the 1955 elections were the first occasion on which a majority of the seats were to be elected rather than be appointed by the colonial authorities. The new constitution was written after recommendations by a committee to grant local citizens more autonomy, headed by George Rendel, were passed.

According to the new Constitution, locals would share executive power with the colonial authorities and there would be a Chief Minister among elected legislators. The number of elected seats was increased to 25, with the British government appointing the remaining seven members. For the first time, political parties were permitted to adopt a standard party symbol for all their candidates and independents to select theirs instead of balloting for them.^[1]

The Governor of Singapore and Colonial Secretary posts were replaced by a Chief Secretary, who inherited the power to appoint four nominated Assembly Members. Also scrapped were the seats of the Solicitor-General, two directors, two ex officios, the three commercial organisations and the City Council representative.

Timeline

Date	Event
5 February	Dissolution of the Legislative Council
28 February	Nomination Day
2 April	Polling day
6 April	Inauguration of David Marshall as Chief Minister
7 April	Formation of Council of Ministers
22 April	Opening of 1st Legislative Assembly

Changes in electoral boundaries

Constituency	Divisions formed from
Bukit Panjang	Bukit Timah & Seletar
Cairnhill	Balestier, Rochore & Tanglin
Farrer Park	Balestier
Geylang	Katong
Havelock	City, Keppel & Tanglin
Kampong Kapor	Rochore
Pasir Panjang	Bukit Timah & Keppel
Paya Lebar	Changi & Katong
Punggol–Tampines	Changi
Queenstown	Bukit Timah, Keppel & Tanglin
Sembawang	Bukit Timah & Seletar
Serangoon	Balestier, Changi & Seletar
Southern Islands	Bukit Timah & Keppel
Stamford	City & Rochore
Tanjong Pagar	City & Keppel
Telok Ayer	City
Tiong Bahru	Keppel
Ulu Bedok	Changi
Whampoa	Balestier

Results

The Straits Times front page on election day

The Sunday Times the day after the election, reporting on the results and David Marshall's Labour Front victory.

Much to the surprise for British, who had anticipated a Progressive victory and its leader, Tan Chye Cheng, to emerge as Chief Minister, it was the Labour Front that garnered the most seats and its chairman, David Marshall, thus became Singapore's first Chief Minister. Both losing and winning parties were shocked by the results.^[1] Labour Front formed a government with support of the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA), UMNO and the Malay Union.

In its first elections, the newly formed People's Action Party, led by lawyer and former Progressive Party election agent Lee Kuan Yew, chose to field only a handful of candidates to protest against the Rendel Constitution. As independent member Ahmad Ibrahim joined PAP following the election, PAP had 4 members in the Assembly and thus Lee became the new Leader of the Opposition.^[2]

The election saw the electorate multiply 6 folds. Voter turnout barely increased by 0.61% to 52.66%. 6 of the 25 constituencies saw voter turnout less than 50%. The lowest was that of Geylang which saw only 40.84% turning up to vote. This surpassed the City Constituency's 43.93% turnout in 1951 and with compulsory voting introduced in the next 1959 General Election, this was the lowest turnout in a constituency in the non-compulsory voting period (1948-1959). The constituency with the highest voter turnout was that of Southern Islands at 69.79%. The election's best performing candidate was Labour Front candidate and Future Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock who polled 86.48% of the votes. The worst performing candidate was Independent candidate Chua Kim Watt who polled just 0.55% of the votes in Farrer Park. Labour Front leader and Chief Ministerial candidate David Saul Marshall won his Cairnhill constituency with 47.58% of the votes. Future Prime Minister of Singapore and PAP leader Lee Kuan Yew won his Tanjong Pagar constituency with 78.33% over his two rival candidates making it the second best performance after Lim Yew Hock. Ironically, PP leader Tan Chye Cheng was defeated in Cairnhill by David Marshall and polled just 36.42%. 10 candidates lost their $500 election deposits.

Future Chief Minister of Singapore Lim Yew Hock won with the biggest margin of 78.58% while Malay Union candidate Inche Sidik won with the narrowest margin of just 1.15%.

Out of the 7 non-elected seats, 3 were ex-officio members namely: Sir William Goode (the Chief Secretary of Singapore), Sir John Edward Davies (the Attorney-General of Singapore) and Thomas Mure Hart, the Finance Secretary of Singapore.

4 members were nominated out of which 2 were from the Labour Front and 2 Independents. This gave the LF 12 seats. The Labour Front formed a Coalition Government with UMNO and MCA each having 1 seat. The LF-UMNO-MCA Coalition had 14 seats and with British support (3 ex-officio members) had 17 seats just enough for a majority in the 32-seat Assembly. On 6 April 1955, David Marshall was sworn in as the First Chief Minister of Singapore making him also the First Head of Government in the country.

As of 2021, this election remains the only election to have produced a minority government and a hung legislature. It also remains the only election to have produced a Non-PAP Government in the history of Singapore.



Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Labour Front	42,300	27.06	10	New
	Progressive Party	38,695	24.75	4	–2
	Democratic Party	32,115	20.54	2	New
	People's Action Party	13,634	8.72	3	New
	Malayan Chinese Association	6,203	3.97	1	New
	United Malays National Organisation	5,721	3.66	1	New
	Labour Party	1,325	0.85	0	–2
	Malay Union	1,233	0.79	1	New
	Independents	15,098	9.66	3	+2
Total		156,324	100.00	25	+16

Valid votes		156,324	98.89
Invalid/blank votes		1,751	1.11
Total votes		158,075	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		300,199	52.66
Source: Singapore Elections

By constituency

Constituency	Electorate		Candidate	Votes	%
Bukit Panjang	8,012	Progressive Party	Goh Tong Liang	3,097	72.21
Bukit Panjang	8,012	Labour Front	Lim Wee Toh	1,192	27.79
Bukit Timah	9,173	People's Action Party	Lim Chin Siong	3,259	52.45
		Democratic Party	Tan Wah Meng	1,308	21.05
		Labour Front	A. N. Mitra	924	14.88
		Progressive Party	S. F. Ho	722	11.62
Cairnhill	13,528	Labour Front	David Marshall	3,305	47.58
		Progressive Party	Tan Chye Cheng	2,530	36.42
		Democratic Party	Tan Khiang Khoo	1,111	16.00
Changi	11,239	Democratic Party	Lim Cher Kheng	2,624	45.08
		Progressive Party	S. G. Mohamed Ghows	1,699	29.19
		Labour Front	Wong Sau Sheung	1,498	25.73
Farrer Park	12,242	Labour Front	Anthony Rebeiro Lazarous	2,585	38.52
		People's Action Party	Devan Nair	2,219	33.07
		Progressive Party	Eric Wee Sian Beng	1,784	26.59
		Independent	C. T. B. Unnithan	85	1.27
		Independent	Chua Kim Watt	37	0.55
Geylang	16,604	Labour Front	Mak Pak Shee	2,756	41.17
		Independent	Goh Hood Kiat	1,386	20.71
		Labour Party	Lee Yong Min	1,325	19.80
		Democratic Party	Lam Joon Chong	1,226	18.32
Havelock	12,835	Labour Front	Lim Yew Hock	5,744	86.48
		Independent	C. S. Soh	525	7.90
		Progressive Party	Chua Bock Kwee	373	5.62
Kampong Kapor	13,815	Labour Front	Seah Peng Chuan	3,253	45.60
		Independent	Caralapati Raghaviah Dasaratha Raj	2,155	30.21
		Democratic Party	Wong Shian Yein	1,283	17.98
		Progressive Party	Lim Kian Lee	443	6.21
Katong	22,196	Labour Front	Armand Joseph Braga	4,680	45.66
		Progressive Party	John Laycock	2,965	28.93
		Democratic Party	Chan Wah Chip	2,605	25.41
Pasir Panjang	13,812	Malayan Chinese Association	Wong Foo Nam	3,546	45.17
		Progressive Party	K. Mohd S. Hamid	2,370	30.19
		Labour Front	P. V. Krishnan	1,306	16.63
		Democratic Party	Leong Foon Chew	629	8.01
Paya Lebar	12,827	Progressive Party	Lim Koon Teck	3,330	52.07
Paya Lebar	12,827	Democratic Party	Tan Eng Joo	3,065	47.93
Punggol–Tampines	6,628	People's Action Party	Goh Chew Chua	2,127	55.38
		Democratic Party	Anthony Goh	918	23.90
		Progressive Party	H. A. De Silva	796	20.72
Queenstown	7,015	Labour Front	Lee Choon Eng	2,792	67.28
		Democratic Party	Murray Bruce Brash	736	17.73
		Progressive Party	Elizabeth Choy	622	14.99
Rochore	12,073	Labour Front	Tan Theng Chiang	2,929	46.25
		Democratic Party	Ong Eng Lian	1,897	29.95
		Progressive Party	Soh Ghee Soon	1,507	23.80
Seletar	9,402	Independent	Madai Puthan Damodaran Nair	1,771	31.83
		Independent	Lek Poh Song	1,632	29.33
		Democratic Party	Tan Leong Teck	1,252	22.50
		Labour Front	Khew Pee Ging	909	16.34
Sembawang	10,675	Independent	Ahmad Ibrahim	4,281	63.24
Sembawang	10,675	Progressive Party	Lee Kim Kee	2,488	36.76
Serangoon	8,402	Progressive Party	Lim Choon Mong	2,172	45.83
		Democratic Party	Lim Chye Seng	1,412	29.80
		Malayan Chinese Association	Lim Siew Ek	1,155	24.37
Southern Islands	3,548	Malay Union	Inche Sidik	1,233	50.57
Southern Islands	3,548	Progressive Party	Hollupatherage James Caldera Kulasingha	1,205	49.43
Stamford	13,207	Labour Front	Jumabhoy Mohamed Jumabhoy	2,691	43.08
		Independent	T. A. Simon	1,281	20.51
		Progressive Party	Nazir Ahmad Mallal	1,153	18.46
		Democratic Party	Ng Sen Choy	1,121	17.95
Tanglin	16,177	Progressive Party	John Anthony Moore Ede	3,214	45.67
		Democratic Party	Lim Yong Bock	2,501	35.54
		Labour Front	Lim Seow Chuan	1,322	18.79
Tanjong Pagar	13,430	People's Action Party	Lee Kuan Yew	6,029	78.33
		Progressive Party	Peter Lim Seck Tiong	908	11.80
		Democratic Party	Lam Thian	760	9.87
Telok Ayer	11,547	Independent	Rajabali Jumabhoy	1,945	39.90
		Democratic Party	Sng Siak Hwee	1,453	30.30
		Labour Front	Tan Ewe Chee	1,660	29.80
Tiong Bahru	12,664	Democratic Party	William Tan Ah Lek	2,264	38.60
		Progressive Party	Foo Few Ting	2,100	35.80
		Malayan Chinese Association	Teo Seng Bee	1,502	25.60
Ulu Bedok	16,903	United Malays National Organisation	Abdul Hamid Jumat	5,721	61.04
		Democratic Party	Toh Seng Sit	2,999	32.00
		Progressive Party	Abdul Hamid bin Rahmat	652	6.96
Whampoa	12,345	Labour Front	Chew Swee Kee	2,961	45.88
		Progressive Party	Thio Chan Bee	2,565	39.75
		Democratic Party	Lee Kok Liang	927	14.37
Source: ELD, Singapore Elections

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References

1 2 "1955 Legislative Assembly general election". National Library Board . 24 January 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
↑ "History of leader of Opposition in S'pore, from LKY to Chiam See Tong and Low Thia Khiang". mothership.sg. 18 February 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2020.

Sr, Pugalenthi (1996) Elections in Singapore VJ Times International Pte Ltd, Singapore ISBN 981-221-025-3

External links

General Elections 1955 Archived 2015-08-29 at the Wayback Machine Singapore Elections
Results of 1955 election in Singapore

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[GE1955-1] 1 2 "1955 Legislative Assembly general election". National Library Board . 24 January 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2019.

[2] "History of leader of Opposition in S'pore, from LKY to Chiam See Tong and Low Thia Khiang". mothership.sg. 18 February 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2020.

[1]

[2]

v t e Elections and referendums in Singapore
General elections	1948 1951 1955 1959 1963 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1991 1997 2001 2006 2011 2015 2020 Next
By-elections	1948 1952 1957 1961 1965 1966 1967 1970 1977 1979 1981 1992 2012 2013 2016
Presidential elections	1993 1999‡ 2005‡ 2011 2017‡ 2023
Local elections	1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1949 (Apr) 1949 (Dec) 1950 1951 1952 1953 1957 1958
Referendums	1962
‡ uncontested