1991 Singaporean general election

1991 Singaporean general election

31 August 1991
All 81 directly elected seats in Parliament (and up to 3 NCMPs)
Registered	847,716 / 1,692,384
Turnout	95.03% ( 0.33pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Goh Chok Tong Chiam See Tong J. B. Jeyaretnam Party PAP SDP WP Last election 63.17%, 80 seats 11.80%, 1 seat 16.72%, 1 seat Seats won 77 3 1 Seat change 3 2 Popular vote 477,760 93,856 112,010 Percentage 60.97% 11.98% 14.29% Swing 2.20pp 0.18pp 2.43pp
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Goh Chok Tong PAP Prime Minister after election Goh Chok Tong PAP

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.

The result was a victory for the People's Action Party, which won 77 of the 81 seats while the opposition won four. The Worker's Party won Hougang SMC and the Singapore Democratic Party retained Potong Pasir SMC and won Nee Soon Central SMC and Bukit Gombak SMC. This marked the largest representation for opposition parties in Parliament since independence, and was the first time an opposition party won multiple SMCs.

Voter turnout was 95%, although this figure represented the turnout in the 25 constituencies to be contested, with PAP candidates earning walkovers in the other 41; this was the second general election, after the 1968, where PAP returned to power on nomination day due to a majority of walkovers; a collaborative effort amongst all the opposition parties headed by Chiam See Tong decided to not contest all seats, so as to reassure voters to vote in ease for the opposition, known as a "by-election effect". This was to date, the only election, where no Non-constituency Member of Parliament seats were offered, as the four seats won by the opposition is more than the minimum number of opposition MPs in Parliament at three.

Background

This was the inaugural election for Prime Minister and current PAP secretary-general Goh Chok Tong after then-Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew stepped down on 28 November 1990. Goh decided to call a snap election merely three years after the last election to court a fresh mandate, setting Parliament's shortest term ever.

An unprecedented four seats were won by the opposition, the biggest number since the 1963 election, and its share of votes fell for the third consecutive time since 1984, down to then-lowest share of 61.0%. The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) had eight out of nine candidates came in among the top ten opposition candidates, with the party added two more spoils to the seat as well as retaining Potong Pasir SMC by leader Chiam See Tong in a record-69.6% vote, clocking in then the best performance for an opposition party at 48.55% of the votes and becoming the main opposition party in Parliament. The Workers' Party (WP) made its second in-road into the legislature with the victory of its organizing secretary Low Thia Khiang (who previously contested Tiong Bahru GRC in the last election and Hougang SMC on this election), who would years later become WP secretary-general and leader (2001-2018). All three incumbents who were defeated in the election were one-term MPs including Seet Ai Mee, Ng Pock Too and Tang Guan Seng; only Tang returned to the 1997 election as a member in Ang Mo Kio GRC.

At a post-election press conference on the night of 31 August, Goh glumly attributed the loss to his "open and consultative style of government" and pledged to re-evaluate his style. Since the introduction of the Non-Constituency Member of Parliament scheme in 1984, this was the first (and to date the only) election no NCMP seats were offered since four elected opposition seats exceeded the minimum of three NCMP seats allotted; this led to the eventual retirement of Lee Siew Choh in 1993, despite his team of Eunos GRC were narrowly defeated by an inferior margin.

During the time where Ong Teng Cheong and Lee Hsien Loong were suffering from cancer, Goh went to call an by-election for his constituency (Marine Parade GRC), citing its best chances of winning for "political self-renewal" to get people of "ministerial calibre" to join the government under PAP, and paving the chance for J. B. Jeyaretnam to participate in the by-election after his ban expiring that year.

Timeline

Date	Event
8 August	Publication of Electoral Boundaries report
14 August	Dissolution of 7th Parliament
21 August	Nomination Day
31 August	Polling day
6 January 1992	Opening of 8th Parliament

Electoral boundaries

Main article: List of Singaporean electoral divisions (1991–97)

Existing GRCs

Another group of changes were necessary as it increased from three seats to four. Some of them are in the basis of expansion due to the fast growth of towns. The newer divisions are those because of developments of Simei, Jurong West, Bishan and Pasir Ris respectively. Many existing Single Member Constituencies were either remain intact or absorbed to GRCs, though existing GRCs have also created newer divisions.

Constituency	Changes/New Group Representation Constituencies
Aljunied GRC	Absorbed Paya Lebar SMC
Ang Mo Kio GRC	New Constituency Formed from Ang Mo Kio, Kebun Baru, Teck Ghee and Yio Chu Kang SMCs
Bedok GRC	Absorbed Fengshan and Siglap SMCs Tanah Merah division was absorbed into Bedok division
Brickworks GRC	Absorbed Clementi and West Coast divisions from Pasir Panjang GRC Alexandra division was absorbed into Brickworks and Queenstown divisions, while Pasir Panjang division was absorbed into Brickworks division
Cheng San GRC	Absorbed Punggol SMC
Eunos GRC	Pasir Ris division created
Hong Kah GRC	Hong Kah West division was split from Hong Kah South division
Jalan Besar GRC	Absorbed Kallang and a portion of Whampoa SMC
Kampong Glam GRC	New Constituency Formed from Cairnhill, Kampong Glam, Kim Seng, Moulmein, and a portion of Whampoa SMC
Marine Parade GRC	Absorbed MacPherson SMC
Sembawang GRC	Absorbed Bukit Panjang SMC
Tampines GRC	Split Changkat division to include Changkat South division
Tanjong Pagar GRC	New Constituency Formed from Henderson, Tanjong Pagar and Telok Blangah SMCs, and a majority of Tiong Bahru GRC
Thomson GRC	New Constituency Formed from Serangoon Gardens and Thomson SMCs with divisions splitting to form Bishan East and Bishan North, respectively
Toa Payoh GRC	Absorbed Kim Keat SMC

New and retiring candidates

Retiring Candidates

New Candidates

Abdul Nasser Kamaruddin, MP for Hong Kah GRC Abbas bin Abdul Ramin, MP for Pasir Panjang GRC Augustine Tan, MP for Whampoa Chua Sian Chin, MP for MacPherson Dhanabalan Suppiah, MP for Kallang (and constituency abolished). Dixie Tan, MP for Ulu Pandan Hong Hai, MP for Bedok GRC (Kampong Chai Chee) Koh Lam Son, MP for Telok Blangah Lawrence Sia, MP for Moulmein (also called Sia Khoon Seng) Ng Kah Ting, MP for Punggol Philip Tan, MP for Paya Lebar Wan Hussin bin Haji Zoohri, MP for Aljunied GRC

Harun bin Abdul Ghani, 52 Ho Peng Kee, 37 Ker Sin Tze, 46 Koo Tsai Kee, 36 Lim Hng Kiang, 37 Matthias Yao, 35 Michael Lim, 30 Mohammad Maidin bin Packer, 34 Sinakaruppan Ramasamy, 32 Umar Abdul bin Hamid, 31

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	People's Action Party	477,760	60.97	77	–3
	Workers' Party	112,010	14.29	1	+1
	Singapore Democratic Party	93,856	11.98	3	+2
	National Solidarity Party	57,306	7.31	0	0
	Singapore Justice Party	15,222	1.94	0	0
	Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura	12,862	1.64	0	0
	Independents	14,596	1.86	0	0
Total		783,612	100.00	81	0
Valid votes		783,612	97.27
Invalid/blank votes		21,961	2.73
Total votes		805,573	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,692,384	95.03
Source: Nohlen et al., Singapore Elections

By constituency

A total of five candidates (one from the PKMS party) forfeited their deposit. The narrowest margin in the election was Nee Soon Central with SDP's Cheo Chai Chen defeating Ng Pock Too at a 0.66% margin. Buona Vista's Peter Sung had the best result of this election at 79.42%; Potong Pasir SDP candidate's Chiam See Tong's result of 69.64% was to date, the best-performing result for any opposition party in post-independence Singapore (subsequently, PAP's Andy Gan's 30.36% was also, to date, the worst-performing result for any PAP candidate as well). This was also the last election to date to see walkovers on Single Member Constituencies.

Constituency	Seats	Electorate	Party		Candidates	Votes	%
Aljunied GRC	4	94,490		People's Action Party	Chin Harn Tong Ker Sin Tze Mohamad Maidin bin Packer Mohd George Yeo	Uncontested
Ang Mo Kio GRC	4	74,004		People's Action Party	Lau Ping Sum Lee Hsien Loong Umar Abdul Hamid Yeo Toon Chia	Uncontested
Ayer Rajah SMC	1	21,887		People's Action Party	Tan Cheng Bock	15,038	75.16
				Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura	Aziz Ibrahim	4,971	24.84
Bedok GRC	4	86,246		People's Action Party	Abdullah Tarmugi Arthur Beng Kian Lam S. Jayakumar Tan Soo Khoon	49,109	61.98
				Workers' Party	A Balakrishnan Lim Chiu Liang J B Sim Say Chuan Tan Soo Phuan	30,121	38.02
Boon Lay SMC	1	15,007		People's Action Party	Goh Chee Wee	10,106	73.27
				Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura	Sahid Bin Sahooman	3,686	26.73
Braddell Heights SMC	1	27,444		People's Action Party	Goh Choon Kang	13,454	52.27
				Singapore Democratic Party	Sin Kek Tong	12,285	47.73
Brickworks GRC	4	101,440		People's Action Party	Ahmad Mattar Chay Wai Chuen Bernard Chen Tien Lap Wan Soon Bee	Uncontested
Bukit Batok SMC	1	24,908		People's Action Party	Ong Chit Chung	12,205	51.82
				Singapore Democratic Party	Kwan Yue Keng	11,347	48.18
Bukit Gombak SMC	1	24,961		Singapore Democratic Party	Ling How Doong	12,037	51.40
				People's Action Party	Seet Ai Mee	11,383	48.60
Bukit Merah SMC	1	11,998		People's Action Party	Ch'ng Jit Koon	6,878	61.94
				Workers' Party	Gopalan Nair	4,046	36.43
				Independent	Patrick Leong Siew Choong	181	1.63
Bukit Timah SMC	1	24,512		People's Action Party	Wang Kai Yuen	16,080	72.64
				Workers' Party	Zeng Guoyuan	5,683	25.68
				Independent	Md Sani Jan	371	1.68
Buona Vista SMC	1	14,596		People's Action Party	Peter Sung	10,481	79.42
				Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura	Abdul Karim B Abdul Sattar	2,716	20.58
Changi SMC	1	24,886		People's Action Party	Teo Chong Tee	12,292	53.00
				Workers' Party	Tan Bin Seng	10,901	47.00
Cheng San GRC	4	92,979		People's Action Party	Sitaram Chandra Das Heng Chiang Meng Lee Yock Suan Michael Lim Chun Leng	54,963	64.05
				National Solidarity Party	Chng Chin Siah Chng Wee Hong Gertrude Magdeline De Gracias Pok Lee Chuan	30,849	35.95
Chua Chu Kang SMC	1	22,797		People's Action Party	Low Seow Chay	14,489	68.44
				Independent	Kwek Guan Kwee	5,071	23.95
				Independent	Harry W Baptist	1,611	7.61
Eunos GRC	4	75,723		People's Action Party	Chew Heng Ching Charles Chong Sidek Saniff Tay Eng Soon	45,833	52.38
				Workers' Party	Lee Siew Choh Jufrie Mahmood Neo Choon Aik Wee Han Kim	41,673	47.62
Hong Kah GRC	4	64,712		People's Action Party	Chen John Kenneth Chen Koon Lap Kenneth Harun bin Abdul Ghani Yeo Cheow Tong	Uncontested
Hougang SMC	1	21,476		Workers' Party	Low Thia Khiang	10,621	52.82
				People's Action Party	Tang Guan Seng	9,487	47.18
Jalan Besar GRC	4	82,615		People's Action Party	Choo Wee Khiang Lee Boon Yang Peh Chin Hua Zulkifli Mohammed	Uncontested
Jurong SMC	1	31,246		People's Action Party	Ho Kah Leong	18,843	64.32
				Workers' Party	John Gan Eng Guan	8,965	30.60
				Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura	Mohamed Awang	1,489	5.08
Kampong Glam GRC	4	73,317		People's Action Party	Loh Meng See R Sinnakaruppan Wong Kwei Cheong Yeo Ning Hong	Uncontested
Kreta Ayer SMC	1	17,310		People's Action Party	Richard Hu	Uncontested
Leng Kee SMC	1	19,027		People's Action Party	Ow Chin Hock	13,331	76.57
				Independent	G K Niddy	4,080	23.43
Marine Parade GRC	4	74,032		People's Action Party	Goh Chok Tong Lim Chee Onn Othman Haron Eusofe Matthias Yao	51,685	77.25
				Singapore Justice Party	Aminuddin Bin Ami Rajasekaran K S M Suib Bin Abdul Rahman Theng Chin Eng	15,222	22.75
Mountbatten SMC	1	15,497		People's Action Party	Eugene Yap Giau Cheng	11,029	77.95
				Independent	Yen Kim Khooi	3,119	22.05
Nee Soon Central SMC	1	26,806		Singapore Democratic Party	Cheo Chai Chen	12,709	50.33
				People's Action Party	Ng Pock Too	12,541	49.67
Nee Soon South SMC	1	27,722		People's Action Party	Koh Lip Lin	13,719	52.76
				Singapore Democratic Party	Low Yong Nguan	12,284	47.24
Potong Pasir SMC	1	19,263		Singapore Democratic Party	Chiam See Tong	12,582	69.64
				People's Action Party	Andy Gan Lai Chiang	5,486	30.36
Sembawang GRC	4	117,951		People's Action Party	Ho Peng Kee K. Shanmugam Lee Yiok Seng Tony Tan	Uncontested
Tampines GRC	4	69,801		People's Action Party	Chng Hee Kok Mah Bow Tan Aline Wong Yatiman Yusof	38,844	59.48
				National Solidarity Party	Ong Seng Kwe Rasiah Thiagarajah Sarry B Hassan Ken Sunn	26,457	40.52
Tanglin SMC	1	16,801		People's Action Party	Lew Syn Pau	9,113	68.52
				Singapore Democratic Party	Jimmy Tan Tiang Hoe	4,022	30.25
				Independent	Gnaguru Thamboo Mylvaganam	163	1.23
Tanjong Pagar GRC	4	86,944		People's Action Party	Koo Tsai Kee Lee Kuan Yew Lim Hng Kiang S Vasoo	Uncontested
Thomson GRC	4	68,294		People's Action Party	Wong Kan Seng Ibrahim Othman Lau Teik Soon Leong Horn Kee	Uncontested
Toa Payoh GRC	4	63,591		People's Action Party	Ong Teng Cheong S. Dhanabalan Davinder Singh Ho Tat Kin	Uncontested
Ulu Pandan SMC	1	22,299		People's Action Party	Lim Boon Heng	11,426	56.41
				Singapore Democratic Party	Ashleigh Seow	8,828	43.59
Yuhua SMC	1	18,797		People's Action Party	Yu-Foo Yee Shoon	9,945	56.16
				Singapore Democratic Party	Toh Kim Kiat	7,762	43.84
Source: ELD