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1997 Singaporean general election
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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General elections were held in Singapore on 2 January 1997. President Ong Teng Cheong dissolved parliament on 16 December 1996 on the advice of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. The results were released in the late evening that day and the ruling People's Action Party won a total of 81 out of 83 seats as well as a tenth consecutive term in office under the then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. Other major political parties contesting in the election were the Workers' Party, Singapore Democratic Party, National Solidarity Party, Singapore People's Party and the Democratic Progressive Party.
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The 1997 election is the only election that spanned two calendar years with nomination day happening the preceding year on 23 December 1996 and polling day on 2 January 1997; during nomination day, the People's Action Party returned to power for the second consecutive (and third overall) election as 47 (more than half of the total 83) seats were won uncontested. On polling day, voters voted for the election for the remaining 36 seats, with the opposition party candidates winning only in two seats, down from the four they won in the last election. In this election, Group Representation Constituencies were increased from four members to between four and six members (six-member seats would remain present for two decades until it was eliminated in the 2020 election).
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Background
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This election was Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's opportunity to win a better mandate after the PAP's considerably poorer showing in the 1991 election. Two seats in PAP-held Eunos and Toa Payoh GRCs were vacated after the death of Member of Parliament (MP), Tay Eng Soon and resignation of former Deputy Prime Minister Ong Teng Cheong to contest the 1993 Singaporean presidential election. However, both GRCs did not hold by-elections. A third incumbent, Lim Chee Oon of the Marine Parade GRC, retired from politics ahead of the by-election in 1992, and Teo Chee Hean succeeded Lim.
In 1993, a year following the events of the Marine Parade GRC by-election, the largest opposition party, Singapore Democratic Party, faced a serious internal strife where former leader and Potong Pasir MP Chiam See Tong sued his party's Central Executive Committee (which include current secretary-general Chee Soon Juan and chairman Ling How Doong) for defamation, which he won; Chiam resigned from SDP prior to nominations to lead his splinter party, Singapore People's Party. In 1994, Chee criticized then-Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong over a lack of democracy, which caught attention of Organising Secretary and Marine Parade GRC member-of-parliament Matthias Yao; Chee requested to challenge Yao, providing a condition to carve the latter's MacPherson ward out of Goh's Marine Parade GRC into a SMC, and he accepted.
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Timeline
Nominations and campaigning
The 8th Parliament was dissolved on 16 December 1996, and nominations were held exactly a week after. At the close of the nomination, 122 candidates were nominated among which PAP returned to power for the second consecutive (and third) election after a majority of seats (47) were uncontested; among which were Tampines GRC, which the National Solidarity Party team was disqualified after one candidate was found to have his name struck off the electoral rolls for not voting in 1991. Chia Shi Teck became the first former Nominated MP to contest in the election as an independent candidate in an only four-cornered fight in Chua Chu Kang SMC. The Democratic Progressive Party, formerly named Singapore United Front, contested by a father-son duo led by Tan Soon Phuan and Tan Lead Shake (the latter now a member of NSP).
During campaigning, Tang Liang Hong, who was standing on the WP ticket with its secretary-general J. B. Jeyaretnam for Cheng San GRC, faced criticism where Tang was accused by PAP of being an anti-Christian Chinese chauvinist.
Electoral boundaries
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New six-member Group Representation Constituencies (GRC) were formed in the election, while six existing GRCs were absorbed into neighboring GRCs.[1] Divisions of each constituencies which were either absorbed or carved out Single Member Constituencies (SMC), or creating smaller divisions, were reflected in the table:
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New and retiring candidates
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24 PAP and 18 opposition candidates were among the candidates making their election debuts this year, while 17 incumbents were to retire ahead of the election. The list are as follows:
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Polling day
On Polling Day, several PAP ministers, including Goh Chok Tong, Tony Tan and Lee Hsien Loong were within the precinct of polling stations in Cheng San GRC, although they were not themselves candidates in the constituency. The Workers Party believed that this violated the Parliamentary Elections Act, as unauthorised personnel are prohibited from polling stations by election law to prevent undue influence and harassment on voters and staff.
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Results
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The voter turnout in contested constituencies at 95.91% is Singapore's highest election turnout in history. Kampong Glam's PAP candidate Loh Meng See won the best result this election with 74.52% of the valid votes. Only two candidates (Tan Soo Phuan and Syed Farid Wajidi) had their election deposit forfeited. This would be the last general election to see a four-cornered contest in one of the constituencies contested until 2025 (not counting the 2011 Singaporean presidential election or the 2013 Punggol East by-election, which were also four-cornered contests).[2]
Popular vote
- PAP (65.0%)
- Workers' (14.2%)
- SDP (10.6%)
- NSP (6.74%)
- Others (3.49%)
Seats won
- 47 seats (PAP; uncontested) (56.6%)
- 34 seats (PAP; contested) (41.0%)
- 1 seat (SPP) (1.20%)
- 1 seat (Workers') (1.20%)
By constituency
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Aftermath
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WP's candidates filed police reports against the PAP over the presence of PAP ministers within the precinct of polling stations in Cheng San GRC,[3] citing the violation of two sections of the Parliamentary Elections Act:
- Section 82(1)(d): "No person shall wait outside any polling station on polling day, except for the purpose of gaining entry to the polling station to cast his vote".
- Section 82(1)(e): "No person shall loiter in any street or public place within a radius of 200 metres of any polling station on polling day."
Their complaints were not prosecuted by the police, on the advice of the Attorney-General Chan Sek Keong.[4] The Attorney-General, in his letter to the Minister of Law, interpreted the statute as being irrelevant to people within the polling station, and that remaining within the polling station itself, as opposed to being within a perimeter of 200 meters from the external walls of the polling station, was not an offence.[5] He added that "the possibility of a person inside a polling station influencing or intimidating voters in the presence of the presiding officer and his officials, the polling agents etc was considered so remote that it was discounted by the Act."[6]
The WP then questioned if the AG was suggesting that it was acceptable for people to enter and loiter on the grounds of the polling station instead of outside the station.[7] Later, WP renewed its call for a multi-party Election Commission to ensure fair play in the conduct of Parliamentary elections.
With the Housing Development Board (public housing) upgrading scheme dangled as a pricy stake for voters, PAP reversed its electoral decline for the first time in four elections with a 4.01% increase, and it was the first election since 1963 to wrestle back two of four opposition wards (namely Bukit Gombak and Nee Soon Central) which was previously captured in the last election; due to Chiam's defection to SPP, SDP failed to win any seats and ended their parliamentary presence since 1984. As of the 2025 election, SDP has yet to win a seat in Parliament.
With the election of two opposition MPs (SPP's Chiam and WP's assistant secretary-general Low Thia Khiang), one Non-Constituency Member of Parliament seat was offered to the WP team of Cheng San Group Representation Constituency with the best-performing losing opposition team, which scored 45.2%; WP accepted the offer and elected secretary-general Jeyaretnam as the NCMP, making his return to the Parliament since 1986.
In June 1997, when Nominated MPs were re-appointed, the number was increased from six to nine. On 6 September 1999, the 9th Parliament was relocated to the New Parliament House located within the Civic District facing North Bridge Road, while the former Parliament House was closed until it reopened on 26 March 2004, in which it was renamed to The Arts House.
Tang Liang Hong's self-imposed exile
After the election, WP candidate for Cheng San Group Representation Constituency, Tang Liang Hong was sued for defamation by several of the PAP's leaders, including then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, then-Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew and then-Deputy Prime Ministers Lee Hsien Loong and Tony Tan, who accused him of making statements during the campaign which falsely questioned their integrity.[8] A total of 13 judgements were entered against Tang for defamation.[9]
Tang left Singapore shortly after the election and eventually found refuge in Australia.[citation needed]
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Notes
- Elected as NCMP on 14 January 1997.
References
External links
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