Anson Constituency

Not to be confused with the later Anson Single Member Constituency.

Anson
Former Single Member constituency for the Parliament of Singapore
Region	Singapore
Former constituency
Created	1959
Abolished	1988
Seats	1
Member(s)	Constituency Abolished

Anson Constituency was a constituency in Singapore. It used to exist from 1959 to 1988. During the 1988 electoral reforms, most of the constituency was merged into Tiong Bahru Group Representation Constituency (GRC) while the reminder was merged into Tanjong Pagar Single Member Constituency (SMC).

History

Anson Constituency was created in 1959. It was first won by the PAP. However, David Marshall from the newly created Worker's Party would win it in the 1961 Singaporean by-elections with 43% of the votes and represent Anson until his party lost in the 1963 Singaporean general election.

Between 1963 and 1981, Anson was largely uncontested with small minority parties contesting it time to time.

In 1981, incumbent MP and NTUC Unionist, Devan Nair resigned from the PAP and the Parliament to accept the then largely ceremonial office of President as the country's head of state. ^[1] This resulted in the third time Anson had a by-election. Nominations for the by-election started on 21 October. Three candidates were nominated for the by-election: PAP had Pang Kim Hin, the nephew of former minister Lim Kim San; Workers' Party (WP) secretary-general J. B. Jeyaretnam; and United People's Front Harbans Singh. Chiam See Tong, who recently founded Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) a year prior to the by-election, expressed interest but withdrew later and backed Jeyaretnam.

The by-election was eventually won by Jeyaretnam of WP, breaking PAP's monopoly of full dominance in Parliament, the first time in Singapore since 1968 an opposition party had won a parliamentary seat. ^[2] Between 1981 and 1984, Jeyaretnam was the only opposition MP in Parliament. He will go on to be MP for Anson and also win with increased votes in the 1984 Singaporean general election along with SDP's Chiam See Tong in Potong Pasir Constituency.

On 10 November 1986, Jeyaretnam lost his parliamentary seat following his convictions for making false statements. ^{[3] [4]} No By-Elections were called for the vacated seat for 2 years and no one represented Anson between 1986 and 1988.

In 1988, the constituency was dissolved following the establishment of GRCs and SMCs. ^[5]

Member of Parliament

Year	Member	Party
Formation
Legislative Assembly of Singapore
1959	Baharuddin bin Mohamed Ariff		PAP
1961	David Marshall		WP
1963	Perumal Govindaswamy		PAP
Parliament of Singapore
1968	Perumal Govindaswamy		PAP
1972
1976
1979	Devan Nair
1980
1981	Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam		WP
1984
Constituency abolished (1988)

Electoral results

Note : Elections Department Singapore do not include rejected votes for calculation of candidate's vote share. Hence, the total of all candidates' vote share will be 100%.

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959 ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	PAP	Baharuddin bin Mohamed Ariff	5,167	60.75
	SPA	Goh Kong Beng	1,875	22.04
	LSP	Tan Cheng Chuan	1,231	14.47
	Independent	Wong Swee Kee	117	1.36
	Independent	Krishaan Pakirisamy	116	1.38
Majority			3,292	38.71
Total valid votes			8,506	98.82
Rejected ballots			102	1.18
Turnout			8,608	86.77
Registered electors			9,921
	PAP win (new seat)

Elections in the 1960s

By-election 1961 ^{[8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	WP	David Marshall	3,598	43.32	N/A
	PAP	Mahmud bin Awang	3,052	36.75	24.00
	SA	Chee Phui Hung	1,482	17.84	4.20
	LSP	Mohammed Ismail bin Haji Mohammed Hussain	104	1.25	13.22
	Singapore Congress	Mohammed Ibrahim bin Mohd Kassim	69	0.84	N/A
Majority			546	6.57	32.1
Total valid votes			8,305	86.82	12.00
Rejected ballots			1,261	13.18	12.00
Turnout			9,566	97.45	10.68
Registered electors			9,816		1.06
	WP gain from PAP

General Election 1963 ^{[10] [11]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Perumal Govindaswamy	3,957	46.90	10.15
	BS	Chan Chong Keen	3,123	37.02	N/A
	SA	Arthur K. Iasac	543	6.44	11.40
	Independent	David Marshall	416	4.93	N/A
	UPP	V. Vythalingam	306	3.63	N/A
	WP	Chiang Seok Keong	91	1.08	42.2
Majority			834	9.88	3.31
Total valid votes			8,436	99.18	12.36
Rejected ballots			70	0.82	12.36
Turnout			8,506	92.54	4.91
Registered electors			9,192		6.36
	PAP gain from WP		Swing	10.15

General Election 1968 ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Perumal Govindaswamy	Unopposed
Registered electors			8,764		4.66
	PAP hold

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1972 ^{[13] [14]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Perumal Govindaswamy	5,027	74.34	N/A
	WP	Tay Kim Oh	1,291	19.09	N/A
	United National Front	Paul C. Kunjaraman	444	6.57	N/A
Majority			3,736	55.25	N/A
Total valid votes			6,762	98.01	N/A
Rejected ballots			137	1.99	N/A
Turnout			6,899	84.43	N/A
Registered electors			8,171		6.77
	PAP hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1976 ^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Perumal Govindaswamy	Unopposed
Registered electors			12,755		56.10
	PAP hold

By-election 1979 ^{[16] [17]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Devan Nair	8,127	86.21	N/A
	DPP	Johnny Wee Lai Seng	1,300	13.79	N/A
Majority			6,827	72.42	N/A
Total valid votes			9,427	97.25	N/A
Rejected ballots			267	2.75	N/A
Turnout			9,694	86.22	N/A
Registered electors			11,243		11.85
	PAP hold

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1980 ^{[18] [19]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Devan Nair	11,564	84.10	2.11
	UPF	P.M. Thevar	2,187	15.90	N/A
Majority			9,377	68.20	4.22
Total valid votes			13,751	96.67	0.58
Rejected ballots			473	3.33	0.58
Turnout			14,224	94.34	8.12
Registered electors			15,077		34.10
	PAP hold		Swing	2.11

By-election 1981 ^{[20] [21]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	WP	J.B. Jeyaretnam	7,012	51.93	N/A
	PAP	Pang Kim Hin	6,359	47.10	37.00
	UPF	Harbans Singh	131	0.97	14.93
Majority			653	4.83	63.37
Total valid votes			13,502	98.22	1.55
Rejected ballots			244	1.78	1.55
Turnout			13,746	94.72	0.38
Registered electors			14,512		3.75
	WP gain from PAP

General Election 1984 ^{[22] [23]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	WP	J.B. Jeyaretnam	9,909	56.81	4.88
	PAP	Ng Pock Too	7,533	43.19	3.91
Majority			2,376	13.62	8.79
Total valid votes			17,442	98.19	0.03
Rejected ballots			322	1.81	0.03
Turnout			17,764	96.06	1.34
Registered electors			18,493		27.43
	WP hold		Swing	4.88

References

1. Singh, Bajinder Pal. "Thailand's Indians hope for stability, peace after coup". Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
2. "Singapore Party Loses Vote". The New York Times. 1 November 1981. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
3. "Jeya's disqualification came into effect on Nov 10". Business Times. 10 December 1986. Archived from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
4. "Firebrand". The New Paper . 2 October 2008. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
5. "13 GRCs for next general election". The Straits Times . 15 June 1988. p. 1. Retrieved 13 March 2025– via NewspaperSG.
6. "1959 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS".
7. "Singapore Legislative Assembly General Election 1959 > Anson". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
8. "ELD | 1961 Legislative Assembly By-election Result". Elections Department Singapore . Retrieved 16 July 2025.
9. "Singapore Legislative Assembly By-Election July 1961 > Anson". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
10. "ELD | 1963 Legislative Assembly General Election Results". Elections Department Singapore . Retrieved 16 July 2025.
11. "Singapore Legislative Assembly General Election 1963 > Anson". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
12. "ELD | 1968 Parliamentary General Election Results". Elections Department Singapore . Retrieved 16 July 2025.
13. "ELD | 1972 Parliamentary General Election Results". Elections Department Singapore . Retrieved 17 July 2025.
14. "Singapore Parliamentary General Election 1972 > Anson". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
15. "ELD | 1976 Parliamentary General Election Results". Elections Department Singapore . Retrieved 17 July 2025.
16. "ELD | 1979 Parliamentary By-election Results". Elections Department Singapore . Retrieved 17 July 2025.
17. "Singapore Parliamentary By-Elections 1979 > Anson". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
18. "ELD | 1980 Parliamentary General Election Results". Elections Department Singapore . Retrieved 18 July 2025.
19. "Singapore Parliamentary General Election 1980 > Anson". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
20. "ELD | 1981 Parliamentary By-election Result". Elections Department Singapore . Retrieved 18 July 2025.
21. "Singapore Parliamentary By-Election 1981 > Anson". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
22. "ELD | 1984 Parliamentary General Election Results". Elections Department Singapore . Retrieved 18 July 2025.
23. "Singapore Parliamentary General Election 1984 > Anson". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 18 July 2025.