1991 Singaporean general election

Elections to the 8th Parliament of Singapore

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1991 Singaporean general election

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| <- 1988 | 31 August 1991 | 1997 ->

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<- outgoing members

elected members ->

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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

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|  |  |
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

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Results by constituency

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| Prime Minister before election

Goh Chok Tong
PAP

| Prime Minister after election

Goh Chok Tong
PAP

|

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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,[1] 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 (NCMP) 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

[edit]

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[a]. 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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

### Existing GRCs

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

Party| Votes| %| +/–| Seats| +/–
| People's Action Party| 477,760| 60.97| –2.20| 77| –3
| Workers' Party| 112,010| 14.29| +0.18| 1| +1
| Singapore Democratic Party| 93,856| 11.98| –2.43| 3| +2
| National Solidarity Party| 57,306| 7.31| +3.55| 0| 0
| Singapore Justice Party| 15,222| 1.94| +0.85| 0| 0
| Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura| 12,862| 1.64| +0.63| 0| 0
| Independents| 14,596| 1.86| +0.72| 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[usurped][b]

### By constituency

[edit]

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  | %

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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

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ The record has since superseded by the Workers' Party in the 2020 elections with 50.49% of the votes.
2. ^ 844,668 of the 1,692,384 voters were registered in uncontested constituencies.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p255 ISBN 0-19-924959-8

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