1988 General Election
General elections were held in Singapore on 3 September 1988. The result was a victory for the People's Action Party, which won 80 of the 81 seats.
Overview
Group Representation Constituencies were introduced in this general election to ensure ethnic minority representation in Parliament, starting with three joint constituencies. This was the last time Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew led the PAP in an election and another two stalwarts, former Deputy Prime Minister Dr Toh Chin Chye and Senior Minister S. Rajaratnam, retired for the PAP's renewal process.
Two seats were vacated in 1986 but neither held its by-elections - Workers' Party (WP) Member of Parliament and leader J. B. Jeyaretnam (of Anson) and PAP incumbent Teh Cheang Wan (of Geylang West), vacated its seats due to conviction over falsified party accounts, and suicide over investigations for corruption, respectively.
WP absorbed the two parties, Barisan Sosialis (BS) and Singapore United Front to become the largest opposition party and also allied with the Malay party PKMS as one faction. The election also saw the debut of WP candidate Low Thia Khiang, who would went on to win Hougang Single Member Constituency on the next election (which was also formed in this election), and become the party's secretary-general and one of the longest-serving opposition leader until 2020.
With the Singapore Democratic Party leader's Chiam See Tong sole victory in the seat of Potong Pasir, two Non-Constituency MP seats were offered to former solicitor-general and Law Society president, Francis Seow and veteran politician Dr Lee Siew Choh, both of which were standing under the WP ticket in Eunos Group Representation Constituency; their campaign was notable for criticizing PAP for alleged dubious financial circumstances; in response Minister of State Tay Eng Soon went to lead their PAP team for Eunos. Despite losing by a narrow margin of 49.1%-50.9%, WP were eligible for the NCMP; however, Seow fled the country on 17 December to avoid arrest and was disqualified from the post while Lee took up the offer and became Singapore's first NCMP, marking Lee's return to Parliament after 25 years since his last stint as a PAP and BS legislator. Once again, there was a significant increase of election deposit.
In November 1990, two years after the election, the Nominated MP scheme was implemented to introduce non-partisan voices into the legislature. Although the law allowed up to six NMPs, two were appointed at the start and served for a year before the Parliament term ended.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 14 June | Publication of Electoral Boundaries report |
| 17 August | Dissolution of 6th Parliament |
| 24 August | Nomination Day |
| 3 September | Polling Day |
| 18 September | Candidates revealed for Non-constituency Member of Parliament |
| 9 January 1989 | Opening of 7th Parliament |
Electoral boundaries
Template:See also 1988 was the first election in Singapore's history to introduce the Group Representation Constituency (GRC) scheme, which were formed with series of three (later elections increases up to six) constituencies/divisions with at least one minority member representing to ensure ethnic minority representation in Parliament, thus cumulating the effects with Plurality-at-large voting. Additionally, single member constituencies (SMC) were either formed from or absorbed to neighboring constituencies due to development and electorate, which was shown in the table below:
| Constituency | Changes |
|---|---|
| Formation of Group Representation Constituencies | |
| Aljunied GRC | Formed from Aljunied, Kampong Kembangan and Kampong Ubi SMCs |
| Bedok GRC | Formed from Bedok, Kampong Chai Chee and Tanah Merah SMCs |
| Brickworks GRC | Formed from Alexandra, Brickworks and Queenstown SMCs |
| Cheng San GRC | Formed from Cheng San, Chong Boon and Jalan Kayu SMCs |
| Eunos GRC | Formed from Eunos, Kaki Bukit and a portion of Tampines SMCs (the latter was renamed to Tampines North) |
| Hong Kah GRC | Formed from parts of Bukit Batok (Hong Kah North), Hong Kah (Hong Kah Central) and Yuhua SMCs (Hong Kah South) |
| Jalan Besar GRC | Formed from Geylang West, Jalan Besar and Kolam Ayer SMCs. |
| Marine Parade GRC | Formed from Geylang Serai, Joo Chiat and Marine Parade SMCs. |
| Pasir Panjang GRC | Formed from Clementi, Pasir Panjang and West Coast SMCs. |
| Sembawang GRC | Formed from parts of Nee Soon (Chong Pang and Nee Soon East) and most of Sembawang SMCs Nee Soon Central and Nee Soon South were subsumed into its own SMCs |
| Tampines GRC | Formed from Changkat SMC and Tampines SMC (the latter was divided into Tampines Changkat, Tampines East and Tampines West) |
| Tiong Bahru GRC | Formed from Delta, Henderson, Tiong Bahru and Radin Mas SMCs; Delta was absorbed into Tiong Bahru division. |
| Toa Payoh GRC | Formed from Boon Teck, Khe Bong, Kuo Chuan and Toa Payoh SMCs; Khe Bong was absorbed into Boon Teck division. |
| New Single Member Constituencies | |
| Bukit Gombak SMC | Carved out from Bukit Batok SMC |
| Hougang SMC | Carved out from Punggol SMC |
| Nee Soon Central SMC Nee Soon East SMC |
Carved out from Nee Soon SMC |
| Defunct Single Member Constituencies | |
| Anson SMC | Absorbed to Tanjong Pagar SMC |
| Bo Wen SMC | Absorbed to Ang Mo Kio SMC |
| River Valley SMC | Absorbed to Cairnhill SMC |
| Rochore SMC | Absorbed to Kampong Glam SMC |
| Telok Ayer SMC | Absorbed to Kreta Ayer SMC |
New candidates
- A Nasser Kamaruddin
- Chay Wai Chuen
- Charles Chong
- Choo Wee Khiang
- George Yeo Yong Boon
- Hong Hai
- John Chen Seow Phun
- K Shanmugam
- Lew Syn Pau
- Loh Meng See
- Low Seow Chay
- Ong Chit Chung
- Peh Chin Hua
- Peter Sung
- Seet Ai Mee
- Wong Kwei Cheong
Retiring candidates
| Candidate | Age | Constituency | Since | Replacement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ang Kok Peng | 61 | Buona Vista | 1972 | Peter Sung |
| Chai Chong Yii | 53 | Bukit Batok | 1972 | Ong Chit Chung |
| E.W. Barker | 68 | Tanglin | 1959 | Lew Syn Pau |
| Eric Cheong | 58 | Toa Payoh | 1968 | Davinder Singh |
| Fong Sip Chee | 50 | Kampong Chai Chee | 1963 | Hong Hai |
| Jek Yeun Thong | 58 | Queenstown | 1968 | Chay Wai Chuen |
| Lai Tha Chai | 52 | Henderson | 1972 | S Vasoo |
| Ong Pang Boon | 58 | Telok Ayer | 1959 | Merged into Kreta Ayer |
| Phua Bah Lee | 56 | Tampines | 1968 | Split into three different wards |
| S. Rajaratnam | 73 | Kampong Glam | 1959 | Loh Meng See |
| Tang See Chim | 56 | Chua Chu Kang | 1966 | Low Seow Chay |
| Toh Chin Chye | 68 | Rochor | 1959 | Merged into Kampong Glam |
| Yeo Choo Kok | 52 | Delta | 1970 | Merged into Kim Seng |
Results
Voter turnout was 94.7%, although this figure represents the turnout among the 1,449,838 voters in 70 constituencies to be contested,[1] with PAP candidates earning walkovers in the other 11 which had 219,175 voters.
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| People's Action Party | 848,029 | 63.2 | 80 | +3 |
| Workers' Party | 224,473 | 16.7 | 0 | –1 |
| Singapore Democratic Party | 158,341 | 11.8 | 1 | 0 |
| National Solidarity Party | 50,432 | 3.8 | 0 | New |
| United People's Front | 17,282 | 1.3 | 0 | 0 |
| Singapore Justice Party | 14,660 | 1.1 | 0 | 0 |
| Singapore Malay National Organisation | 13,526 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Angkatan Islam | 280 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Independents | 15,412 | 1.1 | 0 | 0 |
| Invalid/blank votes | 30,629 | – | – | – |
| Total | 1,373,064 | 100 | 81 | +2 |
| Registered voters/turnout | 1,449,838 | 94.7 | – | – |
| Source: Singapore Elections | ||||
- ↑ Parliamentary General Election 1988 Singapore Elections