1968 Singaporean general election
13 April 1968
All 58 seats in Parliament
30 seats needed for a majority
Registered84,883
Turnout91.83% (Decrease 3.28pp)
  Majority party
 
Leader Lee Kuan Yew
Party PAP
Last election 46.93%, 37 seats
Seats won 58
Seat change Increase21
Popular vote 65,812
Percentage 86.72%
Swing Increase 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.[1] 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 FebruaryDissolution of 1st Parliament
17 FebruaryNomination Day
13 AprilPolling day
6 MayOpening 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, are shown on the table:

ConstituencyChanges
New Constituencies
AlexandraCarved out from Queenstown constituency
Bukit Ho SweeCarved out from Delta constituency
Kampong Chai CheeCarved out from Kampong Kembangan, Siglap and Tampines constituencies
Kampong UbiCarved out from Geylang Serai constituency
KatongCarved out from Mountbatten constituency
MacPherson
Potong Pasir		Carved out from Aljunied constituency
WhampoaCarved out from Kallang constituency
Defunct Constituencies
Southern IslandsAbsorbed to Jurong, Pasir Panjang and Telok Blangah constituencies

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
People's Action Party65,81286.7258+21
Workers' Party3,0494.0200
Independents7,0339.2700
Total75,894100.0058+7
Valid votes75,89497.36
Invalid/blank votes2,0582.64
Total votes77,952100.00
Registered voters/turnout759,36791.83
Source: Nohlen et al., Singapore Elections[lower-alpha 1]

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

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
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