1955 Singaporean general election

1955 Singaporean general election

← 1951 2 April 1955 1959 →
elected members →
25 of the 32 seats in the Legislative Assembly 17 seats needed for a majority
Registered	300,199
Turnout	52.66% ( 0.61pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader David Marshall Tan Chye Cheng Tan Ek Khoo Party LF PP DP Last election – 45.37%, 6 seats – Seats won 10 4 2 Seat change New 2 New Popular vote 42,300 38,695 32,115 Percentage 27.06% 24.75% 20.54% Swing New 20.62% New   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Lee Kuan Yew Wong Foo Nam Abdul Hamid Jumat Party PAP MCA UMNO Last election – – – Seats won 3 1 1 Seat change New New New Popular vote 13,634 6,203 5,721 Percentage 8.72% 3.97% 3.66% Swing New New New   Seventh party   Leader Inche Sidik Party Malay Union Last election – Seats won 1 Seat change New Popular vote 1,233 Percentage 0.79% Swing New
Results by constituency
Chief Minister before election Position established Chief Minister after election David Marshall LF

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General elections were held in Singapore on 2 April 1955 to elect members to the 25 elected seats in the Legislative Assembly. Nomination day was on 28 February 1955.

Following the promulgation of the Rendel Constitution, the 1955 elections were the first occasion on which a majority of the seats were to be elected rather than be appointed by the colonial authorities. The new constitution was written after recommendations by a committee to grant local citizens more autonomy, headed by George Rendel, were passed.

According to the new Constitution, locals would share executive power with the colonial authorities and there would be a Chief Minister among elected legislators. The number of elected seats was increased to 25, with the British government appointing the remaining seven members. For the first time, political parties were permitted to adopt a standard party symbol for all their candidates and independents to select theirs instead of balloting for them.^[1]

The Governor of Singapore and Colonial Secretary posts were replaced by a Chief Secretary, who inherited the power to appoint four nominated Assembly Members. Also scrapped were the seats of the Solicitor-General, two directors, two ex officios, the three commercial organisations and the City Council representative.

The Straits Times front page on election day

The Sunday Times the day after the election, reporting on the results and David Marshall's Labour Front victory.

Though many British predicted that the Progressive Party would win and Tan Chye Cheng would become Chief Minister, the results were an upset, with the Labour Front winning the most seats and chairman David Marshall becoming Singapore's first Chief Minister after winning in the Cairnhill constituency with 48% of the vote, defeating Tan (36%). With 12 seats (two nominated members were party members), LF formed a coalition government with the United Malays National Organisation (one seat) and Malaysian Chinese Association (one seat) and three ex-officio members (Chief Secretary Sir William Goode, Attorney-General Sir John Edward Davies and Financial Secretary Thomas Mure Hart), which held 17 of the 32 seats, just enough for a majority into the 32-seat assembly.^[1] As a result, the 1955 elections remain the only general election to date where a coalition government was formed, the only hung legislature, and the only time the government was not formed by the People's Action Party.

On the opposition side, the newly formed People's Action Party, led by lawyer and former Progressive Party election agent Lee Kuan Yew, chose to field only a handful of candidates to protest against the Rendel Constitution. As independent member Ahmad Ibrahim joined the PAP following the elections, meaning the PAP had four members in the Assembly.^[2] Lee won the second-highest vote share of the election with 78% of the vote in Tanjong Pagar; in a statement, Lee also considered Tanglin before choosing Tanjong Pagar due to the influence and welfare with dock workers in the area.^[3]

While this was the last general election to date in which voting was not mandatory and despite the electorate increasing sixfold, voter turnout barely increased to 53%, up by 0.61pp. The Southern Islands constituency had the highest turnout at 70%. However, six of 25 constituencies had turnouts of under 50%, with Geylang having the lowest turnout at 41%; in comparison to the last election, the constituency with the lowest turnout was City with 44%.

The election's best performing candidate was Labour Front candidate and future Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock who polled 86% of the vote and had a large winning margin of 79%, while the worst performing candidate was independent Chua Kim Watt, who polled just 0.55% of the vote in Farrer Park. Malay Union candidate Inche Sidik won with the narrowest margin of just 1.15%.

10 candidates lost their $500 election deposits.

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Labour Front	42,300	27.06	10	New
	Progressive Party	38,695	24.75	4	–2
	Democratic Party	32,115	20.54	2	New
	People's Action Party	13,634	8.72	3	New
	Malayan Chinese Association	6,203	3.97	1	New
	United Malays National Organisation	5,721	3.66	1	New
	Labour Party	1,325	0.85	0	–2
	Malay Union	1,233	0.79	1	New
	Independents	15,098	9.66	3	+2
Total		156,324	100.00	25	+16
Valid votes		156,324	98.89
Invalid/blank votes		1,751	1.11
Total votes		158,075	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		300,199	52.66
Source: Singapore Elections[usurped]

• List of Singaporean electoral divisions (1955–59)

• Sr, Pugalenthi (1996) Elections in Singapore VJ Times International Pte Ltd, Singapore ISBN 981-221-025-3

• General Elections 1955^[usurped] Singapore Elections
• Results of 1955 election in Singapore