1968 Singaporean general election

General elections were held in Singapore on 13 April 1968, the first as an independent state following the island's expulsion from Malaysia. The elections were boycotted by all opposition parties except the Workers Party, which only contested two constituencies. With five independents also running, only seven seats (Farrer Park, Geylang Serai, Jalan Kayu, Kampong Ubi, Moulmein, Nee Soon and Tanjong Pagar) were contested,[1] resulting in People's Action Party (PAP) candidates returned unopposed in the other 51 seats, a first in history PAP returned to power during nomination day.

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%
Majority party   Leader Lee Kuan Yew Party PAP Leader's seat Tanjong Pagar 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

Although the total electorate was 759,367, only 84,883 voters lived in seven contested seats. The turnout was 91.8%, or 77,952 voters.[2]

Background

Following the resignations of eleven MPs from Barisan Sosialis (BS) and two other BS MPs fleeing Singapore to escape the Internal Security Department, five by-elections were held within three years but PAP were successful in winning all the seats, resulting in a monopoly.

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, 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

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, the first time PAP was returned to power on nomination day and the first time it won all seats. Walkovers became a perpetual feature in every succeeding general election until 2015, 47 years or 11 elections later.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	People's Action Party	65,812	86.7	58	+21
	Workers' Party	3,049	4.0	0	0
	Independents	7,033	9.3	0	0
Invalid/blank votes		2,058	–	–	–
Total		77,952	100	58	+7
Eligible voters/turnout[lower-alpha 1]		759,367	91.8	–	–
Source: Nohlen et al., Singapore Elections

By constituency

Constituency	Electorate	Party	Candidate	Votes	%
Alexandra	13,317	People's Action Party	Wong Lin Ken	Uncontested walkover
Aljunied	14,472	People's Action Party	Mohamad Ghazali bin Ismail	Uncontested walkover
Anson	8,764	People's Action Party	Perumal Govindaswamy	Uncontested walkover
Bras Basah	9,718	People's Action Party	Ho See Beng	Uncontested walkover
Bukit Ho Swee	17,735	People's Action Party	Seah Mui Kok	Uncontested walkover
Bukit Merah	19,319	People's Action Party	Lim Guan Hoo	Uncontested walkover
Bukit Panjang	17,893	People's Action Party	Pathmanaban Selvadurai	Uncontested walkover
Bukit Timah	16,769	People's Action Party	Chor Yeok Eng	Uncontested walkover
Cairnhill	12,287	People's Action Party	Lim Kim San	Uncontested walkover
Changi	15,594	People's Action Party	Sim Boon Woo	Uncontested walkover
Chua Chu Kang	12,879	People's Action Party	Tang See Chim	Uncontested walkover
Crawford	7,190	People's Action Party	Low Yong Nguan	Uncontested walkover
Delta	17,715	People's Action Party	Chan Choy Siong	Uncontested walkover
Farrer Park	10,290	People's Action Party	Lee Chiaw Meng	7,826	84.91 / 100
		Independent	Madai Puthan Damodaran Nair	1,391	15.09 / 100
Geylang East	16,185	People's Action Party	Ho Cheng Choon	Uncontested walkover
Geylang Serai	12,741	People's Action Party	Rahmat bin Kenap	9,363	83.01 / 100
		Independent	Darus bin Shariff	1,916	16.99 / 100
Geylang West	14,609	People's Action Party	Yong Nyuk Lin	Uncontested walkover
Havelock	11,049	People's Action Party	Lim Soo Peng	Uncontested walkover
Hong Lim	10,388	People's Action Party	Lee Khoon Choy	Uncontested walkover
Jalan Besar	11,400	People's Action Party	Chan Chee Seng	Uncontested walkover
Jalan Kayu	12,878	People's Action Party	Hwang Soo Jin	9,581	82.30 / 100
		Workers' Party	Sum Chong Meng	2,060	17.70 / 100
Joo Chiat	12,335	People's Action Party	Yeoh Ghim Seng	Uncontested walkover
Jurong	11,445	People's Action Party	Ho Kah Leong	Uncontested walkover
Kallang	9,309	People's Action Party	Abdul Aziz bin Karim	Uncontested walkover
Kampong Chai Chee	17,636	People's Action Party	Sha'ari bin Tadin	Uncontested walkover
Kampong Glam	9,484	People's Action Party	Sinnathamby Rajaratnam	Uncontested walkover
Kampong Kapor	10,818	People's Action Party	Lim Cheng Lock	Uncontested walkover
Kampong Kembangan	15,862	People's Action Party	Mohamed Ariff bin Suradi	Uncontested walkover
Kampong Ubi	13,434	People's Action Party	Ya'acob bin Mohamed	9,797	81.87 / 100
		Independent	Tay Mook Yong	2,169	18.13 / 100
Katong	14,872	People's Action Party	Joseph Francis De Conceicao	Uncontested walkover
Kreta Ayer	11,575	People's Action Party	Goh Keng Swee	Uncontested walkover
MacPherson	13,099	People's Action Party	Chua Sian Chin	Uncontested walkover
Moulmein	11,888	People's Action Party	Sia Khoon Seong	9,675	90.56 / 100
		Independent	T. T. Joseph(Loses $500 deposit)	1,009	9.44 / 100
Mountbatten	12,760	People's Action Party	Ng Yeow Chong	Uncontested walkover
Nee Soon	12,846	People's Action Party	Ong Soo Chuan	10,442	91.35 / 100
		Workers' Party	Wong Hong Toy(Loses $500 deposit)	989	8.65 / 100
Pasir Panjang	12,394	People's Action Party	Othman bin Wok	Uncontested walkover
Paya Lebar	17,573	People's Action Party	Tay Boon Too	Uncontested walkover
Potong Pasir	11,782	People's Action Party	Sellappa Ramaswamy	Uncontested walkover
Punggol	12,277	People's Action Party	Ng Kah Ting	Uncontested walkover
Queenstown	16,193	People's Action Party	Jek Yeun Thong	Uncontested walkover
River Valley	10,865	People's Action Party	Low Guan Onn	Uncontested walkover
Rochore	12,222	People's Action Party	Toh Chin Chye	Uncontested walkover
Sembawang	11,220	People's Action Party	Teong Eng Siong	Uncontested walkover
Sepoy Lines	11,409	People's Action Party	Wee Toon Boon	Uncontested walkover
Serangoon Gardens	9,454	People's Action Party	Leonard Peter Rodrigo	Uncontested walkover
Siglap	11,627	People's Action Party	Abdul Rahim bin Ishak	Uncontested walkover
Stamford	9,919	People's Action Party	Andrew Fong Sip Chee	Uncontested walkover
Tampines	12,703	People's Action Party	Phua Bah Lee	Uncontested walkover
Tanglin	13,332	People's Action Party	Edmund William Barker	Uncontested walkover
Tanjong Pagar	10,806	People's Action Party	Lee Kuan Yew	9,128	94.34 / 100
		Independent	Rengaswamy Vetrivelu(Loses $500 deposit)	548	5.66 / 100
Telok Ayer	11,721	People's Action Party	Ong Pang Boon	Uncontested walkover
Telok Blangah	14,785	People's Action Party	N. Naidu Govindasamy	Uncontested walkover
Thomson	15,911	People's Action Party	Ang Nam Piau	Uncontested walkover
Tiong Bahru	16,532	People's Action Party	Ch'ng Jit Koon	Uncontested walkover
Toa Payoh	19,143	People's Action Party	Eric Cheong Yuen Chee	Uncontested walkover
Ulu Pandan	13,289	People's Action Party	Lee Teck Him	Uncontested walkover
Upper Serangoon	13,373	People's Action Party	Sia Kah Hui	Uncontested walkover
Whampoa	12,854	People's Action Party	Buang bin Omar Junid	Uncontested walkover
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
2. Parliamentary General Election 1968 Singapore Elections