1980 Singaporean general election


General elections were held in Singapore on 23 December 1980. The result was a victory for the People's Action Party, which won all 75 seats, the last of four consecutive elections in which they repeated the feat. Voter turnout was 95.5%, although this figure represents the turnout in the 38 constituencies to be contested, with PAP candidates earning walkovers in the other 37. 685,141 voters out of the total electorate of 1,290,426 went to vote on the elections.

Background

Prior to the election, a series of by-elections were called on 1977 and 1979 after two and seven MPs, respectively, were vacated; however, the ruling PAP won every seat, allowing nine new candidates, which include Devan Nair and Tony Tan to enter Parliament.
On 2 April the following year, then-President of National Trades Union Congress, Phey Yew Kok, resigned his Boon Teck seat after Phey was initially charged from a funding fraud of trade union funds, and left Singapore to avoid a bail; however, Lee chose not to call a by-election in his place since the current Parliament term was due to end.

Timeline

Campaign

The school streaming system, as well as Phey Yew Kok's fraud, became highlights of the campaign for the election.
Independent candidate Chiam See Tong, who made his political debut in the previous election, founded Singapore Democratic Party on 8 September, and would later go on to win Potong Pasir Constituency on the 1984 election on his third attempt after the retirement of incumbent and cabinet minister Howe Yoon Chong.
A total of 43 opposition candidates went on to contest in 38 constituencies, which was nearly half of the total, with United People's Front representing the most number of candidates at 14. This was the first election none of the candidates run as Independents.

Constituencies

Similar to previous elections, constituencies were either dissolved or created due to population. The constituencies which saw changes were:

Results


By constituency