Singapore Democratic Alliance
Malay namePerikatan Demokratik Singapura
Chinese name新加坡民主联盟
Xīnjiāpō Mínzhǔ Liánméng
Tamil nameசிங்கப்பூர் ஜனநாயக கூட்டணி
Ciṅkappūr Jaṉanāyaka Kūṭṭaṇi
ChairmanDesmond Lim
FounderChiam See Tong
Founded28 June 2001 (2001-06-28)[1]
Headquarters218F Changi Road, PKMS Building, Singapore
IdeologyLiberal democracy
Political positionCentre-left
Current membersSingapore Justice Party
Singapore Malay National Organization
Colours  Bright Green
SloganService Before Self
Parliament
0 / 104
Website
http://mysda.news/

The Singapore Democratic Alliance (abbreviation: SDA) is an opposition political coalition between Singapore Justice Party (SJP), Singapore Malay National Organization (PKMS), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), National Solidarity Party (NSP) and Singapore People's Party (SPP) in 2001. As of 2023, only SJP and PKMS are in the alliance.

History

Prior to the founding in 2001, then-opposition Member of Parliament (MP) for Potong Pasir Chiam See Tong was a member of Singapore Democratic Party (SDP). Chiam resigned to join Singapore People's Party (SPP) ahead of the 1997 elections due to a leadership schism with another member, Chee Soon Juan, who was made the party's secretary-general.

The party was first established in 2001 by Chiam where he want to provide a common grouping under which different opposition parties could stand as a political coalition in elections against the ruling People's Action Party (PAP). The alliance was initially a four-party coalition, which consist of his party of SPP (which adopted the party's logo at the time), as well as the National Solidarity Party (NSP), the Singapore Justice Party (SJP) and the Singapore Malay National Organization (PKMS). Notable members include Cheo Chai Chen and Tan Lead Shake of the SDP and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) respectively, later joined the SDA where they represent the NSP. The alliance of four parties contested in both the 2001 and 2006 elections.[2][3] It was the first coalition in post-independence since 1963, after the now-defunct Singapore Alliance Party.

After the 2006 elections, two parties withdrew from the SDA before the next election; In 2007, the NSP withdrew in hopes of rejuvenating the party,[4] and later on 2 March 2011, the SPP, after Chiam, mostly due to health reasons, was relieved of his role as chairman after the Council voted for three days earlier, and SPP further cited their disagreements (notably the PKMS) for attempting to invite Reform Party (RP), a party which was newly formed on 3 July 2008, to SDA, and also fielding a successor for the ward (who later went on to choose Chiam's wife, Lina Loh) while Chiam would go to contest Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.[5][6] SDA now consists of PKMS and SJP. The chairperson was later succeeded by the SJP's leader Desmond Lim, notable for helping Chiam in managing his town council funds.

However, the separation of Chiam's SPP saw waning on the alliance, where they fell short on winning the elections. In the 2011 elections, neither the NSP (who field a large slate of candidates for the election), SDA, or SPP were successful: SPP's Loh was made a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament although losing the contest to a three-time PAP candidate Sitoh Yih Pin, by a wafer-thin margin of 0.72% or 114 votes; candidate Desmond Lim became the only candidate forfeiting his electoral deposit (S$16,000) in the only three-cornered contest in the newly formed Punggol East SMC (a ward carved out from the neighbouring Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, which the alliance also contest); and members who joined as independents contesting in Tanjong Pagar GRC (the election's only uncontested constituency) was disqualified during nomination day. In the 2015 election, SDA fielded their only team of six in the only contested constituency of Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC, but with no success.

In the 2013 by-election, Lim contested again, but later conceded defeat during vote counting;[7] ultimately, he garnered only 0.53% of the valid votes cast for the election, resulting him as the second candidate in history (after United People's Front candidate Harbans Singh) to have his deposit forfeited on both times,[8] and consequently set its record-worst score for a candidate in post-independence Singapore.[9]

The party contested in the 2020 election, with the election marked Lim's last election leading the party.[10] Their party only contested Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, which produced a rare three-cornered contest against a third party, Peoples Voice, making it only the second time in the election's history a multi-cornered fight occurred within a GRC (the first being 1992's by-election under Marine Parade GRC).[11] The party scored 23.67% of the votes while PV ended up losing their deposits after garnering 12.18%.[12] Prior to the elections, there was a joint alliance between the four parties, Singaporeans First, People's Power Party, Reform Party and Democratic Progressive Party, who initially announced to form an alliance of their own,[13] but ended up applying for the SDA on 1 April[14] and has never materialized.[15][16][17]

Member parties

Current members

Logo Name Ideology Position Leader(s) Seats
contested
Votes (%)
SJP Singapore Justice Party – – Desmond Lim – –
 PKMS Singapore Malay National Organization
Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura		 Ketuanan Melayu Right-wing Abu Mohamed – –

Former members

Leadership

No Name Years
1 Chiam See Tong 2001–2011
2 Desmond Lim 2001–present

Former elected Members of Parliament

No Name Constituency Length of service (cumulative) Notes
1 Chiam See Tong Potong Pasir SMC 1997–2011 Party chairman from 2001 to 2011. He served as the MP for Potong Pasir SMC (2001–2011). Did not seek re-election under SDA banner.
2 Steve Chia Non-Constituency Member of Parliament 2001–2006 Served as NCMP from 2001 to 2006.

Electoral history

Due to an alliance, the number of respective seats and the results combined from the four parties (NSP, SJP, SPP and PKMS) were reflected in the table. NSP and SPP left after the 2006 general election.

Parliament

Election Seats up for election Seats contested by party Seats won by walkover Contested seats won Contested seats lost Total seats won Change Total votes Share of votes Popular vote Resulting Government Party leader
2001 84 13 0 1 12
1 / 84
 Increase1 75,248 27.6% 12.0% Largest Opposition
(+1 NCMP)		 Chiam See Tong
2006[18] 84 20 0 1 19
1 / 84
 Steady 145,628 32.5% 13.0% Opposition
2011 87 7 0 0 7
0 / 87
 Decrease1 55,988 30.06% 2.78% No seats Desmond Lim
2015 89 6 0 0 6
0 / 89
 Steady 46,508 27.11% 2.06% No seats
2020 93 5 0 0 5
0 / 93
 Steady 37,179 23.67% 1.49% No seats

Parliament By-elections

Election Seats up for election Seats contested by party Contested seats won Contested seats lost Total votes Share of votes Outcome of election Constituency contested
2013 1 1 0 1 168 0.53% No seat Punggol East SMC

References

  1. ↑ "Singapore Democratic Alliance is formed". NLB. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  2. ↑ "SDA 'soft' launches manifesto, gunning for 15 seats in GE". Channel NewsAsia. 16 April 2006.
  3. ↑ "SDA Candidates". Channel NewsAsia. 27 April 2006. Archived from the original on 16 May 2006.
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ GE: SDA says Chiam pulling SPP out of alliance, channelnewsasia.com, 2 March 2011
  6. ↑ Chiam pulls party out of alliance Archived 6 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Today, 3 March 2011
  7. ↑ "SDA's Lim concedes defeat". Channel NewsAsia. 26 January 2013.
  8. ↑ Candidates name list (H-I): Harbans Singh
  9. ↑ "SDA scores worst result in post-independence history". www.asiaone.com.
  10. ↑ Cheng Wei, Aw (27 June 2020). "Singapore GE2020: SDA chairman Desmond Lim to step down from position, says he is leading GE team for the last time". The Straits Times. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  11. ↑ Aw Cheng Wei; Cara Wong (2 July 2020). "Singapore GE2020: SDA and PV trade barbs over three-cornered fight in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  12. ↑ Chang, Ai-Lien; Wei, Aw Cheng (11 July 2020). "GE2020 official results: PAP wins Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC with 64.15% of votes, PV party to lose election deposit". The Straits Times. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  13. ↑ Lay, Belmont (4 January 2020). "4 opposition parties to form alliance to take on PAP in upcoming general election". Mothership.sg. Archived from the original on 4 January 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  14. ↑ Koh, Fabian (1 April 2020). "Singapore GE: Four parties apply to join Singapore Democratic Alliance instead of registering new alliance". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 21 June 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  15. ↑ hermesauto (1 June 2020). "Singapore GE: SDA puts on hold membership applications from four parties, scuppering plans for opposition bloc under its banner". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 19 June 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  16. ↑ "You can't sit with us: SDA thwarts opposition parties' hope of contesting GE together". AsiaOne. 1 June 2020. Archived from the original on 18 June 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  17. ↑ "Alliance deal off: PPP, RP, SingFirst and DPP to link up informally instead, says Goh Meng Seng". Today. Singapore. 22 June 2020. Archived from the original on 26 June 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  18. ↑ "Gathering of Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) supporters …". www.nas.gov.sg.
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