1968 Singaporean general election

1968 Singaporean general election

13 April 1968
All 58 seats in Parliament 30 seats needed for a majority
Registered	84,883
Turnout	91.83% ( 3.28pp)
Majority party   Leader Lee Kuan Yew Party PAP Last election 46.93%, 37 seats Seats won 58 Seat change 21 Popular vote 65,812 Percentage 86.72% Swing 39.79pp
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Lee Kuan Yew PAP Prime Minister after election Lee Kuan Yew PAP

General elections were held in Singapore on 13 April 1968, the first as a sovereign country after its independence three years prior. The People's Action Party (PAP) won in a landslide, winning all 58 seats at the time, including 44 uncontested constituencies. The PAP would end up occupying all seats in Parliament until 1981.

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 complete supermajority control of Parliament by the PAP.

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 UMNO), 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, which ended up being a recurring theme until 1984. 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

See also: List of Singaporean electoral divisions (1968–72)

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, are 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 Kallang 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

By constituency

Out of the seven seats contested (all by only two candidates), three had winning margins of over 75%, with the losers forfeiting their deposit. The result for Tanjong Pagar (94% to 6%) remains the biggest winning margin and percentage obtained to date.

Constituency	Electorate	Party		Candidate	Votes	%
Alexandra	13,317		People's Action Party	Wong Lin Ken	Uncontested
Aljunied	14,472		People's Action Party	Mohamad Ghazali bin Ismail	Uncontested
Anson	8,764		People's Action Party	Perumal Govindaswamy	Uncontested
Bras Basah	9,718		People's Action Party	Ho See Beng	Uncontested
Bukit Ho Swee	17,735		People's Action Party	Seah Mui Kok	Uncontested
Bukit Merah	19,319		People's Action Party	Lim Guan Hoo	Uncontested
Bukit Panjang	17,893		People's Action Party	Pathmanaban Selvadurai	Uncontested
Bukit Timah	16,769		People's Action Party	Chor Yeok Eng	Uncontested
Cairnhill	12,287		People's Action Party	Lim Kim San	Uncontested
Changi	15,594		People's Action Party	Sim Boon Woo	Uncontested
Chua Chu Kang	12,879		People's Action Party	Tang See Chim	Uncontested
Crawford	7,190		People's Action Party	Low Yong Nguan	Uncontested
Delta	17,715		People's Action Party	Chan Choy Siong	Uncontested
Farrer Park	10,290		People's Action Party	Lee Chiaw Meng	7,826	84.91
			Independent	Madai Puthan Damodaran Nair	1,391	15.09
Geylang East	16,185		People's Action Party	Ho Cheng Choon	Uncontested
Geylang Serai	12,741		People's Action Party	Rahmat bin Kenap	9,363	83.01
			Independent	Darus bin Shariff	1,916	16.99
Geylang West	14,609		People's Action Party	Yong Nyuk Lin	Uncontested
Havelock	11,049		People's Action Party	Lim Soo Peng	Uncontested
Hong Lim	10,388		People's Action Party	Lee Khoon Choy	Uncontested
Jalan Besar	11,400		People's Action Party	Chan Chee Seng	Uncontested
Jalan Kayu	12,878		People's Action Party	Hwang Soo Jin	9,581	82.30
			Workers' Party	Sum Chong Meng	2,060	17.70
Joo Chiat	12,335		People's Action Party	Yeoh Ghim Seng	Uncontested
Jurong	11,445		People's Action Party	Ho Kah Leong	Uncontested
Kallang	9,309		People's Action Party	Abdul Aziz bin Karim	Uncontested
Kampong Chai Chee	17,636		People's Action Party	Sha'ari bin Tadin	Uncontested
Kampong Glam	9,484		People's Action Party	S. Rajaratnam	Uncontested
Kampong Kapor	10,818		People's Action Party	Lim Cheng Lock	Uncontested
Kampong Kembangan	15,862		People's Action Party	Mohamed Ariff bin Suradi	Uncontested
Kampong Ubi	13,434		People's Action Party	Ya'acob bin Mohamed	9,797	81.87
			Independent	Tay Mook Yong	2,169	18.13
Katong	14,872		People's Action Party	Joseph Francis De Conceicao	Uncontested
Kreta Ayer	11,575		People's Action Party	Goh Keng Swee	Uncontested
MacPherson	13,099		People's Action Party	Chua Sian Chin	Uncontested
Moulmein	11,888		People's Action Party	Sia Khoon Seong	9,675	90.56
			Independent	T. T. Joseph	1,009	9.44
Mountbatten	12,760		People's Action Party	Ng Yeow Chong	Uncontested
Nee Soon	12,846		People's Action Party	Ong Soo Chuan	10,442	91.35
			Workers' Party	Wong Hong Toy	989	8.65
Pasir Panjang	12,394		People's Action Party	Othman Wok	Uncontested
Paya Lebar	17,573		People's Action Party	Tay Boon Too	Uncontested
Potong Pasir	11,782		People's Action Party	Sellappa Ramaswamy	Uncontested
Punggol	12,277		People's Action Party	Ng Kah Ting	Uncontested
Queenstown	16,193		People's Action Party	Jek Yeun Thong	Uncontested
River Valley	10,865		People's Action Party	Low Guan Onn	Uncontested
Rochore	12,222		People's Action Party	Toh Chin Chye	Uncontested
Sembawang	11,220		People's Action Party	Teong Eng Siong	Uncontested
Sepoy Lines	11,409		People's Action Party	Wee Toon Boon	Uncontested
Serangoon Gardens	9,454		People's Action Party	Leonard Peter Rodrigo	Uncontested
Siglap	11,627		People's Action Party	Abdul Rahim Ishak	Uncontested
Stamford	9,919		People's Action Party	Andrew Fong Sip Chee	Uncontested
Tampines	12,703		People's Action Party	Phua Bah Lee	Uncontested
Tanglin	13,332		People's Action Party	Edmund W. Barker	Uncontested
Tanjong Pagar	10,806		People's Action Party	Lee Kuan Yew	9,128	94.34
			Independent	Rengaswamy Vetrivelu	548	5.66
Telok Ayer	11,721		People's Action Party	Ong Pang Boon	Uncontested
Telok Blangah	14,785		People's Action Party	N. Naidu Govindasamy	Uncontested
Thomson	15,911		People's Action Party	Ang Nam Piau	Uncontested
Tiong Bahru	16,532		People's Action Party	Ch'ng Jit Koon	Uncontested
Toa Payoh	19,143		People's Action Party	Eric Cheong Yuen Chee	Uncontested
Ulu Pandan	13,289		People's Action Party	Lee Teck Him	Uncontested
Upper Serangoon	13,373		People's Action Party	Sia Kah Hui	Uncontested
Whampoa	12,854		People's Action Party	Buang bin Omar Junid	Uncontested
Source: ELD