A total of 210 candidates contested the elections, marking the largest slate in Singapore for over six decades until it was surpassed in 2025. The ruling PAP fielded candidates in all 51 seats, while its breakaway parties, BS and the UPP, each put forward 46 and the SAP fielded 42. This was the last election in which any party other than the PAP contested more than half the parliamentary seats. With the two PAP splinter groups and the Alliance fielding nearly full slates, it became one of the most fiercely contested elections and posed a serious challenge to the ruling PAP. Voter turnout reached 95.11%, the highest at the time in Singapore's history.
This was the most recent general election in which the PAP received less than half of the popular vote, at only 47%, and the last parliamentary election to date where MPs (29 out of 51) were elected by a plurality due to the first-past-the-post voting system. It was also the last general election in which an incumbent minister was defeated until 2011 and the last general election in which all seats were contested until 2015. With the Independence of Singapore Agreement 1965, this election was the only one that was held when Singapore was a state of Malaysia. After independence, the elected members of the Legislative Assembly subsequently become members of the inaugural Parliament of Singapore.
Background
Although the People's Action Party (PAP) had won 43 seats in the 1959 elections, they lost four seats in 1961 (two were from the by-election defeats, and two defected to the new United People's Party (UPP)). A further 13 legislators were expelled from PAP for voting against the government in a no-confidence motion on 20 July 1961; the dissidents subsequently formed a new party, the Barisan Sosialis (BS), alleging PAP as a communist front. The combination of by-election defeats, defections and expulsions reduced the PAP by 17 seats down to 26, leaving PAP with a one-seat majority.
On 3 July 1962, while the integration referendum debate was in procession, the PAP lost its majority following the resignation of legislator Ho Puay Choo (who later joined BS on 11 August). Five days later, UPP legislator S. V. Lingam returned to PAP fold, giving it back its one-seat majority. However, the PAP lost its majority again five days later after health minister Ahmad Ibrahim died from liver cancer. BS initially planned to field its iconic leader, Lim Chin Siong, in the vacated seat, but the Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew opted against a by-election, and instead called a fresh election.
On 31 August 1963, Singapore was declared fully independent from the United Kingdom (full internal self-government was granted in 1959) with PAP declared as trustees until the merger with Malaysia could be complete. On 3 September, Lee Kuan Yew dissolved the Legislative Assembly in accordance with procedure, the Proclamation of Malaysia was ratified on 16 September, and elections are to be held on 21 September. As part of the Malaysia Agreement, the head of government in Singapore were permitted to retain the title of "Prime Minister" despite there already being a prime minister of Malaysia, as Singapore were given more autonomy in some areas than the other states of Malaysia.
The elections, held in the midst of Singapore's merger with Malaysia, are remembered as the PAP's hardest-fought as the party faced intensive challenges from three other parties that fielded nearly full slates. BS collated with Parti Rakyat, and fielded candidates in all but two seats, while UPP had an unusually large number of candidates. Earlier that year on 2 February, as part of an anti-communist security operation, the PAP government with support of the Malaysian federal government and the British government had launched Operation Coldstore to detain several BS leaders, including Lim Chin Siong, which severely hampered BS.
On the final night of campaigning, PAP officials issued a sudden warning: if BS were to win the election and defeat the PAP, the federal government in Kuala Lumpur might deploy troops to Singapore and invoke emergency powers, bypassing the incoming BS-led government, allegedly due to its perceived pro-communist stance. This last-minute tactic, seen by many as fearmongering, left BS with no opportunity to respond. Nevertheless, it appeared to sway public sentiment and may have contributed significantly to the PAP's victory the following day.
In terms of votes, Cairnhill candidate Lim Kim San had the best scoring result of 66.46%; however, 29 out of the 51 constituencies had elected by plurality as a result of first-past-the-post voting. Delta's MP-elect Chan Choy Siong had the narrowest winning margin of 0.46%. A total of 92 candidates lost their election deposits, with the lowest being 0.72%, held by Moulmein's independent candidate Soo Tho Siu Hee.
The Sunday Times the day after the 1963 election, reporting on the results.
The PAP won a landslide victory, securing 37 seats and retaining its two-thirds majority in the Legislative Assembly. This result had been uncertain in the lead-up to the vote, and while the PAP emerged as the clear winner, its overall vote share was only 46.93%, the lowest in its history. Several key factors contributed to this outcome despite strong competition from BS.[2] One major reason was the PAP's last-minute warning that if BS formed the government, the federal government in Kuala Lumpur could respond by sending troops into Singapore and enforcing emergency powers. Many voters were also concerned that BS' opposition to merger with Malaya would jeopardise such negotiations. Support for merger was strong among the public, and BS' alignment with Indonesia and the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) raised further alarm, especially as Indonesia had declared a Konfrontasi and begun provocative military activity in Borneo.[2]
The English-educated middle class, worried about the rise of communism, voted tactically for the PAP after the left-wing split that created BS. The PAP also gained credit for its achievements in government since 1959. These included the construction of 26,000 flats by the Housing and Development Board (HDB), a reduction in unemployment and expanded investment in public services. Many voters saw continued PAP rule as essential for stability and progress.[2] Although the opposition secured a total of 14 seats, both BS and UPP failed to win most of the constituencies they contested because of the split among anti-PAP voters. Additionally, 16 incumbent candidates were defeated, and the PAP experienced some notable losses, including cabinet ministers K. M. Byrne and Tan Kia Gan in Crawford and Paya Lebar respectively, marking the first time a cabinet minister had lost in their own constituency. This would not happen again until 2011, 48 years and 11 elections later, when cabinet ministers Lim Hwee Hua and George Yeo were defeated in their constituency of Aljunied.
In the aftermath of the election, the PAP government passed a constitutional amendment stipulating that legislators who resign or are expelled from the parties they were elected under would lose their seats, in order to discourage future defections. As a result, by-elections were subsequently held in Hong Lim in 1965, seven constituencies in 1966 and five constituencies in 1967. Those victories resulted PAP in achieving a parliament monopoly that would last for the next 15 years until the first elected opposition MP in 1981. The changes during the 1963–1968 parliamentary term remains the biggest turnover of MPs in post-independence Singapore.
Federal government response
The Singapore Alliance Party also lost all seven seats it had held before dissolution. The federal Malaysian prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman and the rest of UMNO were shocked by the Alliance's wipeout in the election. The Alliance which ruled the federal government had expected strong support from the Malay Singaporean electorate, as was the case in Peninsular Malaysia, but the PAP swept all of UMNO's Malay dominated constituencies, including Kampong Kembangan, Geylang Serai and the Southern Islands. Tunku attributed the setback to "traitors" within Singapore UMNO and among sections of the Singaporean Malay community. On 27 September, Tunku declared that he would "personally direct" UMNO's affairs in Singapore and play "an important part" in its future election campaigns. This deepened mistrust between the PAP state government and the Malaysian federal government, and became one of the factors leading to Singapore's expulsion two years later.[3]
The Secretary General of UMNO, Syed Jaafar Albar, reacted even more strongly to the defeat, publicly vowing in the Malaysian federal parliament to "fix" Lee Kuan Yew using "both words and fists". Other Malay extremists delivered equally heated speeches at various meetings and alleged that the PAP had "intimidated" Malays into voting against UMNO, with some even burning an effigy of Lee at a meeting in Singapore to display their anger.[3] The Singapore Alliance became dormant in 1965,[4] and the Singapore People's Alliance, one of its membership parties, was dissolved on 16 May 1965, shortly before Singapore's independence from Malaysia on 9 August 1965.[5][6]
Distribution of Singapore's seats in the Dewan Rakyat
↑Lau, Albert (1998). A Moment of Anguish: Singapore in Malaysia and the Politics of Disengagement. Singapore: Times Academic Press. ISBN981-210-1349.
123Sonny Yap; Richard Lim; Leong Weng Kam (2010). Men in White: The Untold Story of Singapore's Ruling Political Party. Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings.
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