1984 Singaporean general election

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1984 Singaporean general election
Flag of Singapore.svg
  1980 22 December 1984 1988  

All 79 directly elected seats in Parliament (and up to 3 NCMPs)
Registered944,624
Turnout95.65% (Increase2.svg 0.15pp)
 First partySecond partyThird party
  Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore Making a Toast at a State Dinner Held in His Honor, 1975.jpg JoshuaBenjaminJeyaretnam-Singapore-20051107-cropped.jpg ChiamSeeTong-SDARally-20060502.jpg
Leader Lee Kuan Yew J. B. Jeyaretnam Chiam See Tong
Party PAP WP SDP
Last election77.66%, 75 seats6.22%, 0 seats1.77%, 0 seats
Seats won7711
Seat changeIncrease2.svg2Increase2.svg1Increase2.svg1
Popular vote568,310110,86832,102
Percentage64.83%12.65%3.66%
SwingDecrease2.svg 12.83ppIncrease2.svg 6.43ppIncrease2.svg 1.89pp

Prime Minister before election

Lee Kuan Yew
PAP

Prime Minister after election

Lee Kuan Yew
PAP

General elections were held in Singapore on 22 December 1984. President Devan Nair dissolved parliament on 4 December 1984 on the advice of Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The result was a victory for the People's Action Party, which won 77 of the 79 seats, marking the first time since 1963 that at least one opposition candidate was elected to parliament in a general election, although the first presence of an opposition MP was in the 1981 Anson by-election.

Contents

Background

In his 1983 National Day Rally speech, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew lamented that declining birth rates and large number of graduate women remaining single or not marrying their intellectual equal could see Singapore's talent pool shrink. The PAP government then proceeded to launch the "Graduate Mothers' Scheme" to entice graduate women with incentives to get married and grant graduate mothers priority in the best schools for their third child. [1] The proposal was met with anger by the Singapore public (including many female graduates) and the PAP government drew accusations of elitism, and even eugenics. Notably, prominent PAP stalwarts like Deputy Prime Minister S. Rajaratnam and also ex-minister Toh Chin Chye expressed opposition to the proposal. [2] [3]

In March 1984 Health Minister Howe Yoon Chong released a controversial proposal to raise the age for the withdrawal of Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings from 55 to 60 years. At a news conference on 26 March 1984, Howe reasoned that Singaporeans could not depend only on their children in their old age. That suggestion, part of the 54-page report of the Committee on the Problems of the Aged [4] which he chaired, was eventually dropped. Taking up the suggestions in the report, the Singapore Government subsequently introduced the Minimum Sum scheme. This allows workers to withdraw some of their CPF funds at age 55, setting aside a certain minimum sum which can only be withdrawn at retirement age, currently at 62 years. [5] [6]

These controversial proposals sparked debate and uproar in the Singapore electorate and were said to have contributed to a big dip in PAP's support and its share of votes plunged by 12.9% to below 64.8%, the biggest fall and the lowest for PAP since the 1963 general elections (this remains the largest anti-PAP swing ever in a seriously contested general election as of 2020). In his memoirs, Lee Kuan Yew recalled that the swing against the PAP was larger than what he expected.

New candidates/outgoing incumbents

Minister of Finance Hon Sui Sen died during his term on 14 October 1983 and his seat of Havelock was vacated, but no by-election was held on the constituency, and announced to be merged into Delta constituency. Tony Tan succeeded Hon as the new Finance Minister.

PM Lee's son Lee Hsien Loong (who went on to become the nation's third Prime Minister) made his debut in the newly formed Teck Ghee constituency, while PAP stalwarts Dr Goh Keng Swee and Ong Pang Boon stepped down. In the only election among several preceding and succeeding ones, the election deposit of $1,500 remained unchanged. The Workers' Party secretary-general J. B. Jeyaretnam successfully retained the Anson constituency with an increased majority, while the Singapore Democratic Party made its first in-road into Parliament with the victory of Chiam See Tong, who would serve the Potong Pasir Single Member Constituency for the next 26 years until 2011.

Non-Constituency Member of Parliament scheme

A new Non-Constituency Member of Parliament scheme was introduced whereby between three and six seats, the exact number which was decided by the President of Singapore, would be offered to unsuccessful opposition candidates with the best scores and who garner at least 15% of the votes if any one party wins all the seats, subtracting one NCMP seat for every one opposition MP elected. Opposition parties dismissed the scheme for misleading voters into thinking that they could have opposition MPs without voting for them. M.P.D. Nair of WP who contested Jalan Kayu was the first to be offered but declined. The offer was then made to Singapore United Front's Tan Chee Kien who contested Kaki Bukit, who also declined, and no further offers were made.

With the creation of the scheme, this also began a continuing trend in which three political parties were represented in Parliament with the exception of 1986–1988 (due to the disqualification of sole Workers' Party MP J. B. Jeyaretnam in 1986) and 2015–2020 (when the Workers' Party was the sole opposition party with MPs).

Timeline

DateEvent
4 DecemberDissolution of the 5th Parliament
12 DecemberNomination Day
22 DecemberPolling day
25 February 1985Opening of 6th Parliament

Electoral boundaries

The newer constituencies are those with rapid developments of Ang Mo Kio, Tampines, Jurong East, Bedok & Jurong West (smaller developments), while other constituencies were dissolved, which was reflected in the table:

ConstituencyChanges
New Constituencies
Bo Wen Formed from Ang Mo Kio, Kebun Baru & Yio Chu Kang
Changkat Formed from Tampines & Kaki Bukit
Eunos Formed from Kaki Bukit & Tampines
Fengshan Formed from Bedok, Kampong Chai Chee & Tanah Merah
Hong Kah Formed from Boon Lay
Teck Ghee Formed from Ang Mo Kio & Chong Boon
Yuhua Formed from Boon Lay & Bukit Timah
Defunct Constituencies
Bukit Ho Swee Absorbed to Tiong Bahru and Kim Seng
Havelock Absorbed to Delta
Katong Absorbed to Joo Chiat and Mountbatten

New/Outgoing MP

Outgoing MPsNew MPs
Retiring

Deceased

^Note : A caret indicates that the constituency was removed and absorbed to other wards.

Results

Chua Chu Kang SMC United People's Front candidate Teo Kim Hoe who garnered only 196 votes, or 0.81% of the valid votes cast, set a worst-scoring result for any candidates in the history of the election until the 2013 by-election where Desmond Lim surpassed the record with 168 votes or 0.53% of the valid votes; [7] not counting by-elections, the record has also be broken by independent candidate Samir Salim Neji in the 2015 general election, with 150 votes or 0.60% of the valid votes.

Excluding the 30 uncontested constituencies, the voter turnout was 95.6%, with 63.2% of the total electorate casting their votes. [8]

Singapore Parliament 1983.svg
PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
People's Action Party 568,31064.83–12.8377+2
Workers' Party 110,86812.65+6.431+1
Singapore United Front 87,2379.95+1.8900
Singapore Democratic Party 32,1023.66+5.631+1
United People's Front27,2173.10–1.3900
Barisan Sosialis 24,2122.76+0.1700
Singapore Justice Party 10,9061.24+0.4100
Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura 4,7680.54–1.5700
Angkatan Islam3590.04New0New
Independents10,5861.21New0New
Total876,565100.0079+4
Valid votes876,56597.08
Invalid/blank votes26,3942.92
Total votes902,959100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,495,38995.59
Source: Singapore Elections [a]

By constituency

ConstituencyElectoratePartyCandidateVotes%
Alexandra 19,670 People's Action Party Tan Soo Khoon 12,17266.79
Workers' Party John Cruz Corera6,05333.21
Aljunied 19,045 People's Action Party Chin Harn Tong Uncontested
Ang Mo Kio 14,633 People's Action Party Yeo Toon Chia 9,90972.75
United People's FrontAng Bee Lian3,71127.25
Anson 18,493 Workers' Party J. B. Jeyaratnam 9,90956.81
People's Action Party Ng Pock Too 7,53343.19
Ayer Rajah 20,017 People's Action Party Tan Cheng Bock 14,05075.44
Singapore Justice Party Suib bin Abdul Rahman4,57524.56
Bedok 17,074 People's Action Party S. Jayakumar 10,97268.95
Singapore United Front Lee Chin Teck4,94131.05
Bo Wen 14,777 People's Action Party Sushilan Vasoo 10,29974.70
United People's FrontShaikh Ahmad bin Shaikh Salim3,48825.30
Boon Lay 18,964 People's Action Party Goh Chee Wee12,49069.65
Singapore United Front Reveendran Sasi5,44330.35
Boon Teck 19,490 People's Action Party Ho Tat Kin10,22456.16
Barisan Sosialis Lee Siew Choh 7,98243.84
Braddell Heights 14,152 People's Action Party Goh Choon KangUncontested
Brickworks 13,571 People's Action Party Ahmad Mattar 8,38966.27
Workers' Party Mohd Taib bin Saffar4,27033.73
Bukit Batok 20,812 People's Action Party Chai Chong Yii 14,76778.27
United People's FrontTan Jue Kit4,09921.73
Bukit Merah 19,210 People's Action Party Lim Chee OnnUncontested
Bukit Panjang 23,173 People's Action Party Lee Yiok SengUncontested
Bukit Timah 17,238 People's Action Party Wang Kai YuenUncontested
Buona Vista 18,041 People's Action Party Ang Kok Peng Uncontested
Cairnhill 15,862 People's Action Party Wong Kwei CheongUncontested
Changi 20,129 People's Action Party Teo Chong Tee12,19565.75
Singapore United Front Sim Peng Kim6,35334.25
Changkat 18,742 People's Action Party Aline Wong 10,31058.56
Singapore Democratic Party Soon Kia Seng7,29741.44
Cheng San 17,328 People's Action Party Lee Yock Suan Uncontested
Chong Boon 20,650 People's Action Party Rajagopal Sitaram Chandra Das11,05856.02
Singapore Democratic Party Ling How Dung8,68143.98
Chua Chu Kang 25,532 People's Action Party Tang See Chim13,25454.84
Workers' Party Chan Keng Sieng10,72044.35
United People's FrontTeo Kim Hoe1960.81
Clementi 20,890 People's Action Party Bernard Chen Tien LapUncontested
Delta 14,800 People's Action Party Yeo Choo Kok7,98758.72
Workers' Party Peter Chua Chwee Huat5,61441.28
Eunos 17,615 People's Action Party Zulkifli bin Mohammed 10,49464.81
Singapore United Front Chong Tung Shang5,69735.19
Fengshan 18,407 People's Action Party Arthur Beng Kian Lam11,21665.13
Singapore United Front Chng Chin Siah6,00534.87
Geylang Serai 24,109 People's Action Party Othman bin Haron Eusofe14,56465.57
Singapore United Front Mohamed Mansor bin Abdul Rahman7,64934.43
Geylang West 22,325 People's Action Party Teh Cheang Wan 13,79866.83
Singapore United Front Lim Tiong Hock2,99434.43
Henderson 17,630 People's Action Party Lai Tha Chai9,69558.80
Workers' Party Chon Koon Cheong6,79341.20
Hong Kah 22,062 People's Action Party Yeo Cheow Tong Uncontested
Jalan Besar 16,115 People's Action Party Lee Boon Yang 9,23664.43
Workers' Party Anathan Balakrishnan5,10035.57
Jalan Kayu 25,011 People's Action Party Heng Chiang Meng11,98551.22
Workers' Party Madai Puthan Damodaran Nair [b] 11,41448.78
Joo Chiat 18,957 People's Action Party Yeoh Ghim Seng Uncontested
Jurong 24,517 People's Action Party Ho Kah Leong Uncontested
Kaki Bukit 20,683 People's Action Party Chew Heng Ching10,22952.28
Singapore United Front Tan Chee Kien [c] 9,33647.72
Kallang 18,809 People's Action Party S. Dhanabalan 11,25664.95
Workers' Party A. L. Sundram6,07535.05
Kampong Chai Chee 22,537 People's Action Party Fong Sip Chee 12,12557.16
Singapore United Front Seow Khee Leng9,08742.84
Kampong Glam 18,127 People's Action Party S. Rajaratnam Uncontested
Kampong Kembangan 20,295 People's Action Party Yatiman bin Yusof10,32655.71
Workers' Party Jufrie Mahmood 3,02344.29
Kampong Ubi 14,323 People's Action Party Wan Hussin bin Zoohri8,37863.73
Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura Abdul Rahman bin Mohamed Zin4,76836.27
Kebun Baru 17,542 People's Action Party Lim Boon Heng 12,31175.84
United People's FrontHarbans Singh3,92124.16
Khe Bong 15,773 People's Action Party Tang Guan Seng 9,22162.53
Barisan Sosialis Sim Say Chuan5,52537.47
Kim Keat 20,439 People's Action Party Ong Teng Cheong Uncontested
Kim Seng 22,136 People's Action Party Yeo Ning Hong Uncontested
Kolam Ayer 23,630 People's Action Party Sidek bin Saniff 12,81257.91
Workers' Party Royston George Scharenguivel9,31142.09
Kreta Ayer 15,982 People's Action Party Hu Tsu Tau Richard 11,08383.17
IndependentLee Mun Hung2,24216.83
Kuo Chuan 18,728 People's Action Party Wong Kan Seng 11,16264.55
Barisan Sosialis Sim Chit Giak6,12935.45
Leng Kee 14,805 People's Action Party Ow Chin Hock 9,19066.84
Workers' Party George Benjamin Armstrong4,55933.16
MacPherson 19,500 People's Action Party Chua Sian Chin Uncontested
Marine Parade 23,622 People's Action Party Goh Chok Tong 15,22870.93
Singapore United Front Gertrude Magdeline De Gracias6,24229.07
Moulmein 18,893 People's Action Party Lawrence Sia Uncontested
Mountbatten 21,480 People's Action Party Eugene Yap Giau Cheng16,07781.32
IndependentTan Ah Teng3,69218.68
Nee Soon 26,897 People's Action Party Koh Lip Lin 18,44474.24
Singapore United Front Quek Teow Chuan6,40125.76
Pasir Panjang 17,149 People's Action Party Abbas Abu Amin 9,31659.35
Workers' Party John Gan Eng Guan6,02238.36
Angkatan Islam SingapuraMohamad Sani bin Jan3592.29
Paya Lebar 18,420 People's Action Party Philip Tan Tee YongUncontested
Potong Pasir 17,915 Singapore Democratic Party Chiam See Tong 10,12860.28
People's Action Party Mah Bow Tan 5,50939.72
Punggol 24,727 People's Action Party Ng Kah Ting 14,90465.09
Singapore United Front Sim Ah Leng7,99534.91
Queenstown 18,084 People's Action Party Jek Yeun Thong Uncontested
Radin Mas 19,770 People's Action Party Chng Hee Kok 9,99753.78
Workers' Party Wong Hong Toy8,59046.22
River Valley 13,481 People's Action Party Tay Eng Soon Uncontested
Rochore 14,164 People's Action Party Toh Chin Chye Uncontested
Sembawang 22,326 People's Action Party Tony Tan 15,94877.42
IndependentStanley Mariadass4,65222.58
Serangoon Gardens 17,553 People's Action Party Lau Teik SoonUncontested
Siglap 17,090 People's Action Party Abdullah Tarmugi Uncontested
Tampines 19,656 People's Action Party Phua Bah Lee 13,16372.34
United People's FrontKasim bin Ibrahim5,03227.66
Tanah Merah 17,808 People's Action Party Ibrahim bin Othman11,09368.08
Singapore United Front Ng Lep Chong5,20131.92
Tanglin 15,990 People's Action Party E. W. Barker Uncontested
Tanjong Pagar 15,812 People's Action Party Lee Kuan Yew Uncontested
Teck Ghee 16,866 People's Action Party Lee Hsien Loong 12,79480.38
United People's FrontGiam Lai Cheng3,12319.62
Telok Ayer 13,984 People's Action Party Ong Pang Boon Uncontested
Telok Blangah 19,550 People's Action Party Koh Lam Son10,15055.02
Workers' Party Rajaratnam Murugason8,29944.98
Thomson 15,271 People's Action Party Leong Horn KeeUncontested
Tiong Bahru 20,091 People's Action Party Ch'ng Jit Koon Uncontested
Toa Payoh 14,177 People's Action Party Eric Cheong Yuen Chee8,55965.16
Barisan Sosialis Ng Ho4,57634.84
Ulu Pandan 22,761 People's Action Party Dixie Tan Uncontested
West Coast 28,008 People's Action Party Wan Soon Bee 19,74575.72
Singapore Justice Party Muthusamy Ramasamy6,33124.28
Whampoa 18,494 People's Action Party Augustine Tan Hui HengUncontested
Yio Chu Kang 16,734 People's Action Party Lau Ping Sum11,97776.66
United People's FrontMunjeet Singh3,64723.34
Yuhua 16,266 People's Action Party Yu-Foo Yee Shoon 9,55161.43
Singapore Democratic Party Lim Ah Yong5,99638.57
Source: ELD

Notes

  1. 550,765 of the 1,495,389 registered voters were in uncontested constitutencies
  2. Elected NCMP on 24 December 1984 but rejected to take the seat on 4 January 1985. Seat declared vacant on 4 March 1985.
  3. Offered NCMP seat on 8 March 1985 but rejected on 28 March 1985. Declared resigned.

References

  1. "Policies for the bedroom and beyond". Today. 23 March 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  2. "Policies for the bedroom and beyond". Today. 23 March 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  3. "Reproductive Rights". AWARE . Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  4. Committee on the Problems of the Aged (1984). Problems of the Aged : Report of the Committee on the Problems of the Aged. Singapore: Ministry of Health. ISBN   9971-88-022-9.
  5. "Former Cabinet Minister Howe Yoon Chong dies at age 84". Channel NewsAsia. 21 August 2007. Archived from the original on 23 August 2007. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
  6. "Late Howe Yoon Chong cared deeply for country's development: PM Lee". Channel NewsAsia. 22 August 2007. Retrieved 23 August 2007.
  7. Toh, Yong Chuan; Lim, Joyce (January 27, 2013). "SDA scores worst result in post-independence history". AsiaOne. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  8. Dieter Nohlen; Florian Grotz; Christof Hartmann (15 November 2001). Elections in Asia and the Pacific : A Data Handbook: Volume II: South East Asia, East Asia, and the South Pacific. OUP Oxford. p. 255. ISBN   978-0-19-924959-6.