1968 Singaporean general election

General elections were held in Singapore on 13 April 1968, its first as a sovereign city-state.[1]

1968 Singaporean general election

13 April 1968
All 58 seats to the Parliament of Singapore 30 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	91.8%
Leader Lee Kuan Yew Party PAP Leader's seat Tanjong Pagar SMC Last election 37 seats, 46.9% Seats won 58 Seat change 21 Popular vote 65,812 Percentage 86.7% Swing 39.8%
Winner by constituency
Prime Minister before election Lee Kuan Yew PAP Prime Minister after election Lee Kuan Yew PAP

Background

Following the resignations of eleven MPs from Barisan Sosialis (BS, Socialist Front) and two other BS MPs leaving Singapore in protest against independence, five by-elections were held within three years but PAP were successful in winning all the seats, resulting in a monopoly.

Campaign

BS boycotted the elections on the grounds that Singapore's independence was "phoney" and several opposition parties heeded its call. The leaders of Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura (formerly the local branch of the UNMO), Ahmad Haji Taff, and the Singapore Chinese Party (formerly the local branch of the MCA), Chng Boon Eng, turned up but did not file their nominations. Three precedents were made in this election: the fewest seats (seven) contested in a general election, and the first time PAP was returned to power on nomination day and the first time it won all seats. Walkovers also became a perpetual feature in every succeeding general election until 2015.

Timeline

Date	Event
8 February	Dissolution of 1st Parliament
17 February	Nomination Day
13 April	Polling day
6 May	Opening of 2nd Parliament

Electoral system

The 58 members of Parliament were elected in 58 single-member constituencies, an increase from 51 in the 1963 elections. The constituencies introduced or removed in the election, as well as constituencies with changes of boundaries, were shown on the table:

Constituency	Changes
New Constituencies
Alexandra	Carved out from Queenstown constituency
Bukit Ho Swee	Carved out from Delta constituency
Kampong Chai Chee	Carved out from Kampong Kembangan, Siglap and Tampines constituencies
Kampong Ubi	Carved out from Geylang Serai constituency
Katong	Carved out from Mountbatten constituency
MacPherson Potong Pasir	Carved out from Aljunied constituency
Whampoa	Carved out from Katong constituency
Defunct Constituencies
Southern Islands	Absorbed to Jurong, Pasir Panjang and Telok Blangah constituencies

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	People's Action Party	65,812	86.72	58	+21
	Workers' Party	3,049	4.02	0	0
	Independents	7,033	9.27	0	0
Total		75,894	100.00	58	+7
Valid votes		75,894	97.36
Invalid/blank votes		2,058	2.64
Total votes		77,952	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		759,367	91.83
Source: Nohlen et al., Singapore Elections[lower-alpha 1]

By constituency

Constituency	Electorate	Turnout	%	Party		Candidate	Votes	%
Alexandra	13,317	No election			People's Action Party	Wong Lin Ken	Uncontested
Aljunied	14,472	No election			People's Action Party	Mohamad Ghazali bin Ismail	Uncontested
Anson	8,764	No election			People's Action Party	Perumal Govindaswamy	Uncontested
Bras Basah	9,718	No election			People's Action Party	Ho See Beng	Uncontested
Bukit Ho Swee	17,735	No election			People's Action Party	Seah Mui Kok	Uncontested
Bukit Merah	19,319	No election			People's Action Party	Lim Guan Hoo	Uncontested
Bukit Panjang	17,893	No election			People's Action Party	Pathmanaban Selvadurai	Uncontested
Bukit Timah	16,769	No election			People's Action Party	Chor Yeok Eng	Uncontested
Cairnhill	12,287	No election			People's Action Party	Lim Kim San	Uncontested
Changi	15,594	No election			People's Action Party	Sim Boon Woo	Uncontested
Chua Chu Kang	12,879	No election			People's Action Party	Tang See Chim	Uncontested
Crawford	7,190	No election			People's Action Party	Low Yong Nguan	Uncontested
Delta	17,715	No election			People's Action Party	Chan Choy Siong	Uncontested
Farrer Park	10,290	9,410	91.45		People's Action Party	Lee Chiaw Meng	7,826	84.91
					Independent	Madai Puthan Damodaran Nair	1,391	15.09
Geylang East	16,185	No election			People's Action Party	Ho Cheng Choon	Uncontested
Geylang Serai	12,741	11,594	91.00		People's Action Party	Rahmat bin Kenap	9,363	83.01
					Independent	Darus bin Shariff	1,916	16.99
Geylang West	14,609	No election			People's Action Party	Yong Nyuk Lin	Uncontested
Havelock	11,049	No election			People's Action Party	Lim Soo Peng	Uncontested
Hong Lim	10,388	No election			People's Action Party	Lee Khoon Choy	Uncontested
Jalan Besar	11,400	No election			People's Action Party	Chan Chee Seng	Uncontested
Jalan Kayu	12,878	11,977	93.00		People's Action Party	Hwang Soo Jin	9,581	82.30
					Workers' Party	Sum Chong Meng	2,060	17.70
Joo Chiat	12,335	No election			People's Action Party	Yeoh Ghim Seng	Uncontested
Jurong	11,445	No election			People's Action Party	Ho Kah Leong	Uncontested
Kallang	9,309	No election			People's Action Party	Abdul Aziz bin Karim	Uncontested
Kampong Chai Chee	17,636	No election			People's Action Party	Sha'ari bin Tadin	Uncontested
Kampong Glam	9,484	No election			People's Action Party	Sinnathamby Rajaratnam	Uncontested
Kampong Kapor	10,818	No election			People's Action Party	Lim Cheng Lock	Uncontested
Kampong Kembangan	15,862	No election			People's Action Party	Mohamed Ariff bin Suradi	Uncontested
Kampong Ubi	13,434	12,299	91.55		People's Action Party	Ya'acob bin Mohamed	9,797	81.87
					Independent	Tay Mook Yong	2,169	18.13
Katong	14,872	No election			People's Action Party	Joseph Francis De Conceicao	Uncontested
Kreta Ayer	11,575	No election			People's Action Party	Goh Keng Swee	Uncontested
MacPherson	13,099	No election			People's Action Party	Chua Sian Chin	Uncontested
Moulmein	11,888	10,946	92.08		People's Action Party	Sia Khoon Seong	9,675	90.56
					Independent	T. T. Joseph	1,009	9.44
Mountbatten	12,760	No election			People's Action Party	Ng Yeow Chong	Uncontested
Nee Soon	12,846	11,846	92.22		People's Action Party	Ong Soo Chuan	10,442	91.35
					Workers' Party	Wong Hong Toy	989	8.65
Pasir Panjang	12,394	No election			People's Action Party	Othman bin Wok	Uncontested
Paya Lebar	17,573	No election			People's Action Party	Tay Boon Too	Uncontested
Potong Pasir	11,782	No election			People's Action Party	Sellappa Ramaswamy	Uncontested
Punggol	12,277	No election			People's Action Party	Ng Kah Ting	Uncontested
Queenstown	16,193	No election			People's Action Party	Jek Yeun Thong	Uncontested
River Valley	10,865	No election			People's Action Party	Low Guan Onn	Uncontested
Rochore	12,222	No election			People's Action Party	Toh Chin Chye	Uncontested
Sembawang	11,220	No election			People's Action Party	Teong Eng Siong	Uncontested
Sepoy Lines	11,409	No election			People's Action Party	Wee Toon Boon	Uncontested
Serangoon Gardens	9,454	No election			People's Action Party	Leonard Peter Rodrigo	Uncontested
Siglap	11,627	No election			People's Action Party	Abdul Rahim bin Ishak	Uncontested
Stamford	9,919	No election			People's Action Party	Andrew Fong Sip Chee	Uncontested
Tampines	12,703	No election			People's Action Party	Phua Bah Lee	Uncontested
Tanglin	13,332	No election			People's Action Party	Edmund William Barker	Uncontested
Tanjong Pagar	10,806	9,912	91.73		People's Action Party	Lee Kuan Yew	9,128	94.34
					Independent	Rengaswamy Vetrivelu	548	5.66
Telok Ayer	11,721	No election			People's Action Party	Ong Pang Boon	Uncontested
Telok Blangah	14,785	No election			People's Action Party	N. Naidu Govindasamy	Uncontested
Thomson	15,911	No election			People's Action Party	Ang Nam Piau	Uncontested
Tiong Bahru	16,532	No election			People's Action Party	Ch'ng Jit Koon	Uncontested
Toa Payoh	19,143	No election			People's Action Party	Eric Cheong Yuen Chee	Uncontested
Ulu Pandan	13,289	No election			People's Action Party	Lee Teck Him	Uncontested
Upper Serangoon	13,373	No election			People's Action Party	Sia Kah Hui	Uncontested
Whampoa	12,854	No election			People's Action Party	Buang bin Omar Junid	Uncontested
Source: ELD

Notes

1. 674,484 of the 759,367 voters were registered in uncontested constituencies

References

1. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p254 ISBN 0-19-924959-8