2001 Singaporean general election

General elections were held in Singapore on 3 November 2001. President S.R. Nathan dissolved parliament on 18 October 2001 on the advice of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. The ruling People's Action Party (PAP) won 82 of the 84 elected seats in Parliament in a landslide victory. This was the third consecutive election (and fourth overall) where the PAP returned to power on nomination day due to a majority of seats, 55 of them from ten Group Representation Constituencies, just one seat short from a supermajority, were elected via walkovers, being the most recent election on doing so. This is Goh Chok Tong's last election as Prime Minister before handing to Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

2001 Singaporean general election

← 1997 3 November 2001 2006 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 84 directly elected seats in Parliament (and up to 3 NCMPs)
Registered	2,036,923[a]
Turnout	94.61% ( 1.30pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Goh Chok Tong Chiam See Tong Low Thia Khiang Party PAP SDA WP Leader's seat Marine Parade GRC Potong Pasir SMC Hougang SMC Last election 64.98%, 81 seats – 14.17%, 2 seats Seats won 82 2 1 Seat change 1 New 1 Popular vote 470,765 75,248 19,060 Percentage 75.29% 12.03% 3.05% Swing 10.31pp New 11.12pp
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Goh Chok Tong PAP Prime Minister after election Goh Chok Tong PAP

This election marked the first time that total eligible voter population exceeded the 2 million mark, though only one third of them (675,306 of the 2,036,923 eligible voters) had an opportunity to vote. As of the recent election in 2025, this was the most recent general election to date where Workers' Party was not the forefront opposition party representing in the government.

Background

The ruling PAP's secretary-general and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong initially scheduled for the election to be held in 2002, but pushed to November after Singapore faced an economic crisis due to the September 11 attacks in the United States; this election saw its shortest campaigning period of 17 days after opening of the register of electors, due to the aftereffects of the September 11 attacks and Goh sought to secure a mandate as fast as possible. The election deposit saw one of the significant increases in history, upping it by $5,000 to $13,000.

The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) fielded 11 candidates contesting in three constituencies. Leader Chee Soon Juan and his sister Siok Chin leaded their team in the newly formed Jurong GRC, while former MPs Cheo Chai Chen and Ling How Doong respectively challenged Hong Kah GRC and Nee Soon Central SMC.

Former Workers' Party (WP) Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, who lost his seat after being declared a bankrupt owing to lawsuits by PAP leaders, resigned from the party, citing disagreements with the present leadership. The only WP Member of Parliament, Low Thia Khiang took over as secretary-general. During nomination day, WP was nominated on only two wards (Hougang and Nee Soon East SMC), as their GRC team who attempt to nominate in Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (which were chairman Tan Bin Seng, second vice-chairman Huang Seow Kwang (both previously contested Cheng San GRC in 1997), and new members Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahman, James Gomez and Yaw Shin Leong)^[1] was disqualified for filing incomplete papers, while bids to contest Ang Mo Kio, East Coast and Pasir Ris-Punggol Group Representation Constituencies were later withdrawn as their party did not show up on their respective nomination centres. Low cited that their disqualification was an "oversight" and later took responsibility for it.^[2]

For the first time since 1963, a formal political umbrella emerged from within the opposition. The four-party Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA), which consist of the leader party Singapore People's Party (SPP), the National Solidarity Party (NSP), Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura (PKMS) and Singapore Justice Party (SJP), was led by Chiam See Tong. SDA fielded 13 candidates in the election, where NSP provided the bulk of nine candidates, SPP with four, and PKMS providing a required minority candidate. All but one of the contests were straight fights, with the exception being Bukit Timah SMC which saw its sole three-cornered contest between them and an independent this election. According to SDA, four other opposition parties, including SDP and WP, had turned down the invitation. The rest were the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Singapore National Front (SNF), the latter who had yet to contest an election after its founding in 1991.

A seat had been vacated in 1999 after the conviction of Jalan Besar GRC's MP Choo Wee Khiang over commercial crimes, but no by-election was held as the seat was within a GRC. Under the law, an entire electoral constituency (for both single member and GRC seats) has to be vacated before a by-election could be called, as this was done during the Marine Parade GRC by-election of 1992.

Timeline

Date	Event
17 October	Publication of Electoral Boundaries report; Certification of Registers of Electors
18 October	Dissolution of 9th Parliament; Writ of Election issued
25 October	Nomination Day
26 October-2 November	Campaigning Period
3 November	Polling Day
25 March 2002	Opening of 10th Parliament

Electoral boundaries

See also: List of Singaporean electoral divisions (2001–06)

The Publication of Electoral Boundaries report for the 2001 election was released on 17 October 2001, the day prior to the current parliament's dissolution. The 10th Parliament will return 84 seats, with nine SMCs, nine five-member GRCs and five six-member GRCs; all the four-member GRCs were eliminated (four-member GRCs did not reappear until the next two election cycles). The election saw the introductions of Holland–Bukit Panjang GRC (later renamed to Holland-Bukit Timah GRC in the next election), Jurong GRC (which was retooled from most of the Bukit Timah GRC while Bukit Timah being changed back to a SMC) and Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC (renamed from Pasir Ris GRC while incorporating the Punggol and Sengkang town areas from Cheng San GRC). Bukit Timah, Cheng San and Kreta Ayer-Tanglin GRCs were dissolved and reorganized into different constituencies. The SMCs of Bukit Timah and Joo Chiat were returned, while Boon Lay, Bukit Gombak and Kampong Glam were subsumed into GRCs.

For the first time ever, some group representation constituencies kept their status quo from the last election, meaning that the boundaries for these wards are left untouched (in this case, Bishan-Toa Payoh and Marine Parade), a recurring feature seen in every succeeding general election.

Constituency	Changes
Aljunied GRC	Absorbed the southern Punggol divisions from Cheng San GRC, and Lorong Halus area/Paya Lebar Air Base from Pasir Ris GRC Kampong Kembangan division was split into Aljunied-Kembangan and Kembangan-Punggol divisions (the latter absorbed with Punggol East from Cheng San GRC), while Punggol South division was renamed to Aljunied–Hougang Carved out Changi-Simei division to East Coast GRC and Aljunied division to Marine Parade GRC
Ang Mo Kio GRC	Ward upsized to six members Absorbed Cheng San and Jalan Kayu divisions from Cheng San GRC Ang Mo Kio division was absorbed into Yio Chu Kang and Teck Ghee divisions
East Coast GRC	Absorbed Changi-Simei division from Aljunied GRC Carved out Joo Chiat division into SMC
Holland–Bukit Panjang GRC	New Constituency Formed with Ulu Pandan, Bukit Panjang and Buona Vista divisions from Bukit Timah GRC, Sembawang GRC and Tanjong Pagar GRC, respectively Bukit Panjang divisions was split to include Cashew and Zhenghua divisions, while some of Zhenghua division was split from Tanglin division
Hong Kah GRC	Absorbed Bukit Gombak SMC, and a portion of Chua Chu Kang SMC (to form Keat Hong division) Carved out Hong Kah East division to Jurong GRC Hong Kah West was merged into Nanyang division
Jalan Besar GRC	Ward upsized to five members Absorbed Kampong Glam SMC, Kreta Ayer and Kim Seng divisions (which would merge into Kreta Ayer–Kim Seng division) from Kreta Ayer–Tanglin GRC Geylang West division was absorbed into Kolam Ayer and Jalan Besar divisions
Jurong GRC	New Constituency Formed from a majority of Bukit Timah GRC (except for Bukit Timah division, which carved into SMC), and Hong Kah East division from Hong Kah GRC Jurong division was split into Pioneer and Taman Jurong divisions, while Bukit Batok East division was formed from portions of Bukit Batok, Bukit Gombak & Bukit Timah divisions
Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC	New Constituency Formed from Pasir Ris GRC (except for the Pasir Ris South division, which was absorbed into Tampines GRC) and northern Punggol divisions of Cheng San GRC (Punggol Central, North and South)
Sembawang GRC	Carved out Nee Soon East division into SMC, and Bukit Panjang division into Holland–Bukit Panjang GRC Sembawang and Woodlands division were split to include Canberra and Admiralty divisions respectively
Tampines GRC	Ward upsized to five members Absorbed Pasir Ris South division from Pasir Ris GRC (renamed to Tampines North)
Tanjong Pagar GRC	Absorbed Moulmein and Tanglin (renamed to Tanglin-Cairnhill) divisions from Kreta Ayer–Tanglin GRC Carved out Buona Vista division to Holland–Bukit Panjang GRC Leng Kee division was absorbed into Queenstown, Radin Mas and Tanglin-Cairnhill divisions
West Coast GRC	Ward upsized to five members Absorbed Boon Lay SMC and some of Bukit Timah GRC (Jurong, Joo Koon, Gul Circle and Tuas) Pasir Panjang division was dissolved into Telok Blangah and West Coast divisions

Outgoing/New MPs

There were a total of 40 (25 PAP) candidates making their political debut in the 2001 election. Notable figures were Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Halimah Yacob, both of which would later go on to become Presidents of Singapore. 24 incumbent MPs retired prior to the announcements. 15 candidates outside PAP were also new, among which new faces include Chee Siok Chin, sister of the SDP's leader Chee Soon Juan, as well as Desmond Lim, who would later lead the newly formed SDA in future years, and a future Perennial candidate Ooi Boon Ewe.

New candidates

Outgoing MPs

Ahmad Khalis, 40 Amy Khor, 43 Arthur Fong, 37 Balaji Sadasivan, 46 Cedric Foo, 41 Chong Weng Chiew, 32 Cynthia Phua, 43 Eric Low, 53 Gan Kim Yong, 42 Halimah Yacob, 47 Indranee Rajah, 38 Irene Ng, 37 Khaw Boon Wan, 48 Madeleine Ho, 45 Mohammed Maliki bin Osman, 36 Ng Eng Hen, 42 Ong Seh Hong, 37 Penny Low, 34 Raymond Lim, 42 Sitoh Yih Pin, 38 Tharman Shanmugaratnam, 44 Vivian Balakrishnan, 40 Warren Lee, 41 Wee Siew Kim, 41 Zainudin Nordin, 38 Chee Siok Chin, 35 (SDP) Fong Chin Leong, 32 (SDA) Foo Kok Wah, 30 (SDA) Mohamad Isa bin Abdul Aziz, 43 (SDP) Desmond Lim Bak Chuan, 34 (SDA) Lim Boon Heng, 25 (SDP) Arthero Lim Tung Hee, 46 (SDP) Ng Kee How, 47 (SDA) Ooi Boon Ewe, 60 (IND) Poh Lee Guan, 40 (WP) Mohamad Rahizan bin Yaacob, 45 (SDA) Tan Kim Chuang, 55 (IND) Sebastian Teo Kway Huang, 53 (SDA) Tong Meng Chye, 53 (SDA) Vincent Yeo Boon Keng, 48 (SDP)

Aline Wong (Tampines GRC) Bernard Chen Tien Lap (West Coast GRC) Chng Hee Kok (East Coast GRC) Eugene Yap (Marine Parade GRC ) Goh Chee Wee (Boon Lay) Goh Choon Kang (Marine Parade GRC) Harun Abdul bin Ghani (Hong Kah GRC) Heng Chiang Meng (Cheng San GRC) Ho Tat Kin (Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC) Ibrahim Othman (Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC) Kenneth Chen Koon Lap (Hong Kah GRC) Ker Sin Tze (Aljunied GRC (Paya Lebar)) Lew Syn Pau (Kreta Ayer–Tanglin GRC) Ow Chin Hock (Tanjong Pagar GRC) Peh Chin Hua (Jalan Besar GRC) Peter Chen (Hong Kah GRC) Richard Hu (Kreta Ayer–Tanglin GRC)1 S Vasoo (Tanjong Pagar GRC) Sidek bin Saniff (Aljunied GRC) Sinakruppan Ramasamy (Kreta Ayer–Tanglin GRC) Tang Guan Seng (Ang Mo Kio GRC) Toh See Kiat (Aljunied GRC) Wan Soon Bee (West Coast GRC)

1. ^ Richard Hu initially announced that he would seek another term in leading a team for the new Holland–Bukit Panjang GRC, but the idea was scrapped and was replaced by Gan Kim Yong.

Results

PAP won a landslide with its best result since 1980, achieving its third highest score among the general elections it has contested since 1959. The PAP's vote percentage of 75.3% signaled an overwhelming endorsement of the PAP to lead the nation out of the crisis that came at a time of great uncertainty over world security and the recession that came after the September 11 attacks. Notably, Chong Weng Chiew and Penny Low became the first two MPs to be born in post-independent Singapore.

Both opposition-held wards were successfully retained but saw their winning margins reduced. With these two opposition wins, one NCMP seat was offered to and accepted by Steve Chia of Singapore Democratic Alliance, who became the first NCMP who was not from the Workers' Party.

Two candidates, Tan Kim Chuang and Tan Lead Shake, had each forfeited their $13,000 election deposit, the latter being a straight contest where Tan Cheng Bock won the best performing election result at 87.96% in Ayer Rajah Constituency; This is the last election to date where there was a forfeiture of election deposit outside multi-cornered contests. It was also the last election until 2025 where PAP had a constituency scoring above 80%.^[3]

Popular vote

1. PAP (75.3%)
2. SDA (12.0%)
3. SDP (8.09%)
4. Workers' (3.05%)
5. Others (1.53%)

Seats won

1. 55 seats (PAP; uncontested) (65.5%)
2. 27 seats (PAP; contested) (32.1%)
3. 1 seat (SDA) (1.19%)
4. 1 seat (Workers') (1.19%)

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	People's Action Party	470,765	75.29	+10.31	82	+1
	Singapore Democratic Alliance	75,248	12.03	+2.95	1	0
	Singapore Democratic Party	50,607	8.09	–2.53	0	0
	Workers' Party	19,060	3.05	–11.12	1	0
	Democratic Progressive Party	5,334	0.85	+0.15	0	0
	Independents	4,253	0.68	+0.23	0	0
Total		625,267	100.00	–	84	+1
Valid votes		625,267	97.87
Invalid/blank votes		13,636	2.13
Total votes		638,903	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		2,036,923	94.61
Source: Singapore Elections[a]

Opposition parties contested vote Party Votes Workers'   34.29% SDA   27.61% SDP   20.36% DPP   14.33% Independents   9.85%

By constituency

Constituency	Seats	Electorate	Party		Candidates	Votes	%
Aljunied GRC	5	125,115		People's Action Party	Ong Seh Hong Cynthia Phua Yeo Guat Kwang George Yeo Zainul Abidin	Uncontested
Ang Mo Kio GRC	6	166,644		People's Action Party	Inderjit Singh Lee Hsien Loong Balaji Sadasivan Seng Han Thong Tan Boon Wan Wee Siew Kim	Uncontested
Ayer Rajah SMC	1	18,475		People's Action Party	Tan Cheng Bock	15,024	87.96
				Democratic Progressive Party	Tan Lead Shake	2,057	12.04
Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC	5	114,621		People's Action Party	Davinder Singh Leong Horn Kee Ng Eng Hen Wong Kan Seng Zainudin Nordin	Uncontested
Bukit Timah SMC	1	26,951		People's Action Party	Wang Kai Yuen	19,121	77.37
				Singapore Democratic Alliance	Tong Meng Chye	4,376	17.71
				Independent	Tan Kim Chuang	1,215	4.92
Chua Chu Kang SMC	1	24,863		People's Action Party	Low Seow Chay	15,349	65.34
				Singapore Democratic Alliance	Steve Chia[b]	8,143	34.66
East Coast GRC	6	144,012		People's Action Party	Abdullah Tarmugi Chew Heng Ching Lee Yock Suan Raymond Lim S. Jayakumar Tan Soo Khoon	Uncontested
Holland-Bukit Panjang GRC	5	118,834		People's Action Party	Gan Kim Yong Lim Swee Say David Lim Teo Ho Pin Vivian Balakrishnan	Uncontested
Hong Kah GRC	5	129,073		People's Action Party	Ahmad Khalis Abdul Ghani Ang Mong Seng John Chen Amy Khor Yeo Cheow Tong	96,450	79.74
				Singapore Democratic Party	Cheo Chai Chen Bryan Lim Boon Heng Lim Tung Hee Sarry Bin Hassan Wong Hong Toy	24,513	20.26
Hougang SMC	1	23,320		Workers' Party	Low Thia Khiang	12,070	54.98
				People's Action Party	Eric Low	9,882	45.02
Jalan Besar GRC	5	100,268		People's Action Party	Heng Chee How Lee Boon Yang Loh Meng See Lily Neo Yaacob Ibrahim	68,309	74.48
				Singapore Democratic Alliance	Fong Chin Leong Lim Bak Chuan Mohd Rahizan Bin Yaacob Ng Kee How Sin Kek Tong	23,391	25.51
Joo Chiat SMC	1	21,745		People's Action Party	Chan Soo Sen	15,426	83.55
				Independent	Ooi Boon Ewe	3,038	16.45
Jurong GRC	5	115,113		People's Action Party	Foo Yee Shoon Halimah Yacob Lim Boon Heng Ong Chit Chung Tharman Shanmugaratnam	84,742	79.75
				Singapore Democratic Party	Chee Siok Chin Chee Soon Juan Karuppiah Ambalam Gandhi Mohamed Isa Bin Abdul Aziz Vincent Yeo	21,511	20.25
MacPherson SMC	1	22,010		People's Action Party	Matthias Yao	16,870	83.73
				Democratic Progressive Party	Tan Soo Phuan	3,277	16.27
Marine Parade GRC	6	140,174		People's Action Party	Gan Lai Chiang Goh Chok Tong Mohamad Maidin bin Packer Mohd Othman Haron Eusofe R Ravindran Lim Hwee Hua	Uncontested
Nee Soon Central SMC	1	22,975		People's Action Party	Ong Ah Heng	16,755	78.52
				Singapore Democratic Party	Ling How Doong	4,583	21.48
Nee Soon East SMC	1	28,465		People's Action Party	Ho Peng Kee	19,566	73.68
				Workers' Party	Poh Lee Guan	6,990	26.32
Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC	5	134,151		People's Action Party	Ahmad Magad Charles Chong Michael Lim Penny Low Teo Chee Hean	Uncontested
Potong Pasir SMC	1	16,616		Singapore Democratic Alliance	Chiam See Tong	8,107	52.43
				People's Action Party	Sitoh Yih Pin	7,356	47.57
Sembawang GRC	6	166,137		People's Action Party	Chin Tet Yung Hawazi Daipi K. Shanmugam Warren Lee Maliki Osman Tony Tan	Uncontested
Tampines GRC	5	125,432		People's Action Party	Mah Bow Tan Irene Ng Ong Kian Min Sin Boon Ann Yatiman Bin Yusof	85,915	73.34
				Singapore Democratic Alliance	Abdul Rahim Bin Osman Foo Kok Wah Neo Ting Wei Sebastian Teo Yip Yew Weng	31,231	26.66
Tanjong Pagar GRC	6	141,150		People's Action Party	Chay Wai Chuen Chong Weng Chiew Indranee Rajah Khaw Boon Wan Koo Tsai Kee Lee Kuan Yew	Uncontested
West Coast GRC	5	110,779		People's Action Party	Arthur Fong Cedric Foo Ho Geok Choo Lim Hng Kiang S. Iswaran	Uncontested
Source: ELD

Aftermath

Chee Soon Juan incident

Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) leader Chee Soon Juan came under fire in the media when he encountered Prime Minister Goh while campaigning at a hawker centre. He used a megaphone to ask Goh, "Where is the $18 billion that you have lent to (then-Indonesian President) Suharto?". Goh and Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew sued Chee for defamation shortly after the election.

Chee lost the lawsuits and was ordered to pay damages of S$300,000 to Goh and S$200,000 to Lee. Ahead of the 2006 elections, Chee was declared bankrupt on 10 February, making him ineligible from standing in elections. Chee would return again in the 2015 elections after being discharged from bankruptcy on 23 November 2012.

DPP's hiatus

Following the election, on July 2002, DPP announced that they have expelled Tan Soo Phuan and his son Lead Shake from the party after they breached their orders. Soo Phuan did not inform his decision to contest MacPherson SMC, while Lead Shake contested Ayer Rajah SMC instead of Joo Chiat SMC.^[4] DPP went dormant following their expulsion, but after a decade in December 2012, Singapore People's Party revived the party, which include Benjamin Pwee and Mohamad Hamim bin Aliyas.^[5]

Notes

1. 1,361,617 of the 2,036,923 voters were registered in uncontested constituencies, leaving 675,306 voters able to vote.
2. Elected as NCMP on 5 November 2001.