| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 79 directly elected seats in Parliament (and up to 3 NCMPs) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Registered | 944,624 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 95.65% ( 0.15pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This article is part of a series on |
Singaporeportal |
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.
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allows workers to withdraw some of their CPF funds at age 55, setting aside a certain minimum sum which can only be withdrawn at retirement age, currently at 62 years.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.
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.
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).
Date | Event |
---|---|
4 December | Dissolution of the 5th Parliament |
12 December | Nomination Day |
22 December | Polling day |
25 February 1985 | Opening of 6th Parliament |
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:
Constituency | Changes |
---|---|
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 |
Outgoing MPs | New MPs |
---|---|
Retiring
Deceased
|
|
^Note : A caret indicates that the constituency was removed and absorbed to other wards.
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]
Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
People's Action Party | 568,310 | 64.83 | –12.83 | 77 | +2 | |
Workers' Party | 110,868 | 12.65 | +6.43 | 1 | +1 | |
Singapore United Front | 87,237 | 9.95 | +1.89 | 0 | 0 | |
Singapore Democratic Party | 32,102 | 3.66 | +5.63 | 1 | +1 | |
United People's Front | 27,217 | 3.10 | –1.39 | 0 | 0 | |
Barisan Sosialis | 24,212 | 2.76 | +0.17 | 0 | 0 | |
Singapore Justice Party | 10,906 | 1.24 | +0.41 | 0 | 0 | |
Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura | 4,768 | 0.54 | –1.57 | 0 | 0 | |
Angkatan Islam | 359 | 0.04 | New | 0 | New | |
Independents | 10,586 | 1.21 | New | 0 | New | |
Total | 876,565 | 100.00 | – | 79 | +4 | |
Valid votes | 876,565 | 97.08 | ||||
Invalid/blank votes | 26,394 | 2.92 | ||||
Total votes | 902,959 | 100.00 | ||||
Registered voters/turnout | 1,495,389 | 95.59 | ||||
Source: Singapore Elections [lower-alpha 1] |
Singapore is a parliamentary representative democratic republic in which the president of Singapore is the head of state, the prime minister of Singapore is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Cabinet from the parliament, and to a lesser extent, the president. Cabinet has the general direction and control of the government and is accountable to Parliament. There are three separate branches of government: the legislature, executive and judiciary abiding by the Westminster system. Singapore has been described as being a de facto one-party state.
Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, better known as J. B. Jeyaretnam or by his initials JBJ, was a Singaporean politician, lawyer and secretary-general of WP between 1971 and 2001 and the de facto Leader of the Opposition between 1981 and 1986. A former member of the opposition Workers' Party, He was a Member of Parliament for Anson SMC between 1981 and 1986.
The Workers' Party is a major social democratic political party in Singapore and one of the three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament, alongside the governing People's Action Party (PAP) and the opposition Progress Singapore Party (PSP). The WP sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum and is currently the largest and oldest opposition party in Parliament, having contested every parliamentary election since 1959 against the dominant PAP. Since the 1991 general election, the WP has been the only political party, other than the PAP, with elected Members of Parliament (MPs).
Lee Siew Choh was a Singaporean politician and physician. A former member of the opposition Worker's Party (WP), he was the Member of Parliament for Queenstown from 1959 to 1963 and served as the NCMP from September 1988 to August 1991 of the 7th Parliament of Singapore.
Chiam See Tong is a Singaporean retired politician, lawyer, secretary-General of SDP between 1980 and 1993, secretary-General of SPP between 2011 and 2019 and the chairman of SDA between 2001 and 2011 and de facto Leader of the Opposition between 1986 and 1993 and between 1997 and 2006. A former member of Singapore People's Party (SPP), Chiam was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Potong Pasir Single Member Constituency (SMC) and served between 1984 and 2011.
A Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) is a member of an opposition political party in Singapore who, according to the Constitution and Parliamentary Elections Act, is declared to have been elected a Member of Parliament (MP) without constituency representation, despite having lost in a general election, by virtue of having been one of the best-performing losers. When less than 12 opposition MPs have been elected, the number of NCMPs is the difference to total 12. NCMPs enjoy all of the privileges of ordinary members of Parliament, apart from the salary, which is substantially lower.
General elections were held in Singapore on 3 November 2001. President S.R. Nathan dissolved parliament on 18 October 2001 on the advice of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. The ruling People's Action Party (PAP) won 82 of the 84 elected seats in Parliament in a landslide victory. Due to the large number (55) of uncontested seats, only 675,306 of the 2,036,923 eligible voters (33%) had an opportunity to vote. As of the recent election in 2020, this was the most recent, and fourth overall election PAP returned to power on nomination day with a majority of uncontested walkovers.
Tang Liang Hong is a politician and lawyer from Singapore.
These are the events concerning the 2006 Singaporean general election which occurred before the polling day on 6 May 2006.
General elections were held in Singapore on 2 January 1997. President Ong Teng Cheong dissolved parliament on 16 December 1996 on the advice of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. The results were released in the late evening that day and the ruling People's Action Party won a total of 81 out of 83 seats as well as a tenth consecutive term in office under the then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. Other major political parties contesting in the election were the Workers' Party, Singapore Democratic Party, National Solidarity Party, Singapore People's Party and the Democratic Progressive Party.
Howe Yoon Chong was a Singaporean politician and civil servant who served as Minister for Defence between 1979 and 1982, and Minister for Health between 1982 and 1985. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Potong Pasir SMC between 1979 and 1984.
The Reform Party is an opposition political party in Singapore.
General elections were held in Singapore on 7 May 2011. President S. R. Nathan dissolved parliament on 19 April 2011 on the advice of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Voting is mandatory in Singapore and is based on the first-past-the-post system. Elections are conducted by the Elections Department, which is under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Office. Nomination day was held on 27 April 2011, and for the second election in a row, the PAP did not return to government on nomination day, but it did return to government on polling day. This election also marked the first and the only three-cornered fight since 2001 in Punggol East SMC.
General elections were held in Singapore on 23 December 1980. The result was a victory for the People's Action Party, which won all 75 seats, the last of four consecutive elections in which they repeated the feat. Voter turnout was 95%, although this figure represents the turnout in the 38 constituencies to be contested, with PAP candidates earning walkovers in the other 37. 685,141 voters out of the total electorate of 1,290,426 went to vote on the elections.
General elections were held in Singapore on 3 September 1988. President Wee Kim Wee dissolved parliament on 17 August 1988 on the advice of Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The result was a victory for the People's Action Party, which won 80 of the 81 seats. This was the last time Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew led the PAP in an election.
General elections were held in Singapore on 31 August 1991. President Wee Kim Wee dissolved parliament on 14 August 1991 on the advice of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong.
Singapore has a multi-party parliamentary system of representative democracy in which the President of Singapore is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Singapore is the head of government. Executive power is vested in the President and the Cabinet. Cabinet has the general direction and control of the government and is collectively responsible to the Parliament. There are three separate branches of government: the legislature, executive and judiciary.
General elections were held in Singapore on Friday, 11 September 2015 to elect 89 members of Parliament. The outgoing Parliament had been dissolved and the general election called by President Tony Tan on 25 August, on the advice of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The elections were for the 13th Parliament since independence in 1965, using the first-past-the-post electoral system.
Lee Li Lian is a Singaporean politician. A member of the opposition Workers' Party (WP), she was the Member of Parliament for Punggol East SMC between 2013 and 2015 and was elected to the party's Central Executive Committee (CEC) as Deputy Head of Media Team since 2024.
The 6th Parliament of Singapore was a meeting of the Parliament of Singapore. Its first session commenced on 25 February 1985 and was prorogued on 27 January 1986. It commenced its second session on 20 February 1986 and was dissolved on 17 August 1988.