This election was notable for the debut of Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs), a new electoral arrangement introduced by the government. GRCs required candidates to contest in teams, with the inclusion of at least one member from a minority ethnic community. The scheme began with constituencies represented by teams of three Members of Parliament.[1] While presented as a safeguard for multiracialism, the system was heavily criticised by opposition politicians and parties for increasing the barriers to entry for smaller parties, who found it difficult to field sufficiently strong teams to contest effectively in GRCs.[1]
The People's Action Party (PAP), which had governed since independence, secured a landslide victory winning all but one of the 81 parliamentary seats. The only opposition candidate elected was Chiam See Tong of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), who retained his seat in Potong Pasir SMC. In addition, a single Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) seat was awarded to Lee Siew Choh from the Workers' Party (WP), who had contested in Eunos GRC.[1] He became the first opposition politician to accept an NCMP seat, following previous rejections of such offers in 1984.[1] In addition, while the total number of eligible voters had exceeded one million in 1976, this election marked the first occasion where over one million voters were able to cast their ballots in contested constituencies.[1]
Background
In 1986, the PAP government introduced Town Councils (TC). Unlike the former City Council, which was abolished in 1959 and held separate local elections, Town Councils do not operate through distinct electoral mandates.[1] Instead, local administrative responsibilities are delegated to elected Members of Parliament through general elections. This move coincided with the establishment of Group Representation Constituencies (GRC), a system based on the pluralitygeneral ticket method. GRCs were introduced with the stated aim of guaranteeing ethnic minority representation in Parliament.[1] However, the scheme was heavily criticised by opposition politicians and parties, who argued that it created significant barriers to electoral competition. GRCs were initially formed as constituencies represented by teams of three members. Additionally, this election marked a procedural change in the handling of electoral boundaries.[1] For the first time, alterations to electoral divisions were approved directly by the Prime Minister's Office, rather than being debated and passed in Parliament through a formal bill.[2]
The opposition landscape also evolved significantly during this period. The Workers' Party (WP) absorbed both Barisan Sosialis (BS) and the Singapore United Front, positioning itself as the dominant opposition party.[1] However, WP's Secretary-General J. B. Jeyaretnam was ineligible to contest in this general election, having been barred for five years in 1986 after being convicted for falsely declaring the party's accounts. He had previously served as MP for Anson from 1981 until his seat was vacated in 1986. Under the Constitution of Singapore, a MP must vacate their seat if fined S$2,000 or more or sentenced to 12 months or more in jail. Jeyaretnam has consistently maintained that his convictions were politically motivated.[3][4][5] WP also formed a cooperative alliance with the Malay–based party Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura (PKMS), creating a united faction ahead of the election. On 6 March 1987, the National Solidarity Party (NSP) was established by Kum Teng Hock, a former member of the ruling PAP, and Soon Kia Seng, a former chairman of the SDP. They became the party's founding President and Secretary-General respectively.[6]
In addition to the creation of the Group Representation Constituency (GRC) scheme, single member constituencies (SMC) were either formed from or absorbed to neighboring constituencies due to development and electorate, which was shown in the table below:
Formed from parts of Nee Soon (Chong Pang and Nee Soon East) and most of Sembawang SMCs Nee Soon Central and Nee Soon South were subsumed into its own SMCs
For the first time since independence, voter turnout experienced a decline, with 94.70 percent of voters in the contested constituencies casting their ballots. This represented a decrease of 0.95 percent from the previous general election. The PAP also recorded a fall in its popular vote share for the second consecutive election, dropping by 1.66 percentage points to 63.17 percent. Lee Kuan Yew's Tanjong Pagar once again emerged as the PAP's strongest-performing constituency, achieving 81.60 percent of the vote. It was the only constituency to secure more than 80 percent of votes, making it the top-performing ward for the fifth time in six elections.
With SDP leader Chiam See Tong winning the sole opposition seat in Potong Pasir, two Non-constituency MP seats were offered to former solicitor-general and Law Society president Francis Seow, and veteran politician Lee Siew Choh. Both stood under the banner of the Workers' Party (WP) in Eunos GRC. Their campaign drew attention for openly criticising the PAP over alleged irregularities in financial matters, prompting Minister of State Tay Eng Soon to head the PAP team contesting Eunos.
Ultimately, the PAP won the constituency with 50.89 percent of the vote, making it the election's most marginal victory with a winning margin of only 1.78 percent. As the best-performing opposition team to have lost, the WP team in Eunos qualified for the NCMP scheme. Seow, however, fled Singapore on 17 December to avoid arrest and was disqualified from taking up the seat. He had earlier been detained for 72 days without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA), following accusations of receiving political campaign funding from the United States and facing charges of tax evasion.[8] Lee Siew Choh accepted the NCMP offer, becoming Singapore's first NCMP and marking his return to Parliament after a 25-year absence having previously served as a legislator for both the PAP and later the Barisan Sosialis (BS).
The opposition's overall popular vote share set several new records in this election. The WP secured 16.72 percent of the vote, the highest post-independence performance by any opposition party at the time. Conversely, Angkatan Islam recorded a vote share of just 1.50 percent, the lowest in post-independence history until it was surpassed in the 2025 election by the National Solidarity Party with 1.19 percent of the contested vote. Nonetheless, Angkatan Islam's overall national vote share of 0.02 percent remained the lowest ever recorded. A total of five candidates forfeited their $4,000 election deposits.[9]
In a further development in the structure of Parliament, the government implemented the Nominated Member of Parliament (NMPs) scheme in November 1990, two years after the general election. The initiative was intended to provide a platform for non-partisan and expert voices in legislative discussions. Although the enabling law permitted up to six Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs) to be appointed, only two were selected initially. These NMPs served for a one-year term before the end of that Parliament's session, laying the groundwork for broader inclusion of civil society and professional perspectives in subsequent terms.[10]
Notes
1 2 219,175 of the 1,669,013 voters were registered in uncontested constituencies, leaving 1,449,838 voters able to vote.
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