1997 Singaporean general election


General elections were held in Singapore on 2 January 1997. 765,332 out of the eligible 1.8 million voters voted and selected their next government. The election results was 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.
After nomination day on 23 December 1996, the People's Action Party returned to power for the second consecutive election as 47 seats were won uncontested. On polling day, voters voted for the election for the remaining 36 seats, with the oppositions winning the only 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.

Background

The election would seek opportunity for Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong to score a better mandate after 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, Dr Tay Eng Soon and inauguration of former Deputy Prime Minister Ong Teng Cheong as Singapore's fifth and first elected President in 1993 respectively; however, both GRCs did not held by-elections and were instead subsumed into neighbouring GRCs. A third incumbent, Lim Chee Oon of the Marine Parade GRC, retired from politics ahead of the by-election in 1992, and future Minister 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 then-MP Chiam See Tong sued his party's Central Executive Committee 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 led to the attention of Organising Secretary and Marine Parade GRC member-of-parliament Matthias Yao; Chee publicly request to challenge Yao with a condition of carving out his MacPherson ward from Marine Parade GRC into a SMC, which the latter accepted.

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 election after a majority of seats 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.
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

New six-member Group Representation Constituencies were formed in the election, while six existing GRCs were absorbed into neighboring GRCs. Divisions of each constituencies which were either absorbed or carved out Single Member Constituencies, or creating smaller divisions, were reflected in the table:
ConstituencyChanges
Aljunied GRCWard upsized to five members
Absorbed Eunos from Eunos GRC, Changkat South division from Tampines GRC, and portions of Serangoon Gardens division from Thomson GRC
Ang Mo Kio GRCWard upsized to five members
Absorbed Nee Soon South SMC, portions of Chong Boon division from Cheng San GRC, and portions of Serangoon Gardens division from Thomson GRC
Bishan–Toa Payoh GRCNew Constituency
Formed with Thomson GRC and Toa Payoh GRC, with Boon Teck and Kim Keat divisions absorbed to Toa Payoh Central division, and Kuo Chuan to Toa Payoh East division
Bukit Timah GRCNew Constituency
Formed with Bukit Batok, Bukit Timah, Jurong, Ulu Pandan and Yuhua SMCs, and parts of Clementi division from Brickworks GRC
Cheng San GRCWard upsized to five members
Punggol division was split into Punggol Central, Punggol East and Punggol South divisions
Carved out Chong Boon division to Ang Mo Kio GRC and Cheng San division
East Coast GRCNew Constituency
Absorbed Joo Chiat division from Marine Parade GRC, Kaki Bukit division from Eunos GRC, Changi SMC and Bedok GRC
Changi division was absorbed into Changi-Simei and Changkat South divisions
Hong Kah GRCWard upsized to five members
Absorbed a portion of Chua Chu Kang SMC and Jurong SMC
Hong Kah West division was split to include Nanyang division
Jalan Besar GRCKallang division was dissolved into Kolam Ayer, Jalan Besar, Whampoa and Kampong Glam wards
Kreta Ayer–Tanglin GRCNew Constituency
Formed with Kreta Ayer SMC, Tanglin SMC and portions of Kampong Glam GRC
Marine Parade GRCWard upsized to six members
Absorbed Braddell Heights and Mountbatten SMC, and portions of Serangoon Gardens division from Thomson GRC
Carved out MacPherson division into SMC, and Joo Chiat division into East Coast GRC
Pasir Ris GRCNew Constituency
Absorbed Pasir Ris and portions of Tampines North division from Eunos GRC, while Pasir Ris division was split into Pasir Ris Central, Pasir Ris East and Pasir Ris Loyang divisions
Sembawang GRCWard upzised to six members
Bukit Panjang and Sembawang divisions were split to include Marsiling and Woodlands divisions, respectively
Tampines GRCTampines West division was split to include Tampines Central division
Carved a portion of Changkat South division to Aljunied GRC, while the rest absorbed to Tampines Changkat division
Tanjong Pagar GRCWard upsized to six members
Absorbed Brickworks and Queenstown division from Brickworks GRC, as well as Bukit Merah, Buona Vista and Leng Kee SMCs
Carved out Telok Blangah division to West Coast GRC
Brickworks division was absorbed into Pasir Panjang & Queenstown divisions
West Coast GRCNew Constituency
Formed with Telok Blangah division from Tanjong Pagar GRC, and Clementi & West Coast divisions from Brickworks GRC

New and retiring candidates

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:
Retiring CandidatesNew Candidates
Ho Kah Leong, 58 since 1966
Ch'ng Jit Koon, 62 since 1968
Yeo Toon Chia, 55 since 1970
Chin Harn Tong, 59 since 1972
Lee Yiok Seng, 57 since 1972
Ahmad Mattar, 57 since 1972
S Dhanabalan, 59 since 1976
Lau Teik Soon, 59 since 1976
Teo Chong Tee, 54 since 1976
Koh Lip Lin, 60 since 1979
S Chandra Das, 57 since 1980
Yeo Ning Hong, 53 since 1980
Wong Kwei Cheong, 55 since 1980
Lau Ping Sum, 55 since 1980
Zulkifi Mohammad, 48 since 1984
Arthur Beng, 47 since 1984
Peter Sung, 56 since 1988
Umar Abdul Hamid, 36 since 1991
Ahmad Magad, 43
Ang Mong Seng, 47
Chan Soo Sen, 40
Chin Tet Yung, 45
David Lim Tik En, 41
Hawazi Daipi, 42
Heng Chee How, 35
Inderjit Singh, 36
Lily Neo, 43
Lim Hwee Hua, 37
Lim Swee Say, 42
Ong Ah Heng, 52
Peter Chen, 58
R Ravindran, 36
Seng Han Thong, 46
Tan Boon Wan, 48
Teo Ho Pin, 36
Toh See Kiat, 42
Yaacob Ibrahim, 41
Yeo Guat Kwang, 35
Zainul Abidin bin Mohammed Rasheed, 48

Results

The voter turnout in contested constituencies at 95.91% is Singapore's highest election turnout in history.

By constituency

Aftermath

With the Housing Development Board upgrading scheme dangled as a pricy stake for voters, PAP reversed its electoral decline for the first time in four elections with an increase of four percentage points, and it was the first election since 1963 to wrestle back two of four opposition wards which was previously captured in the last election; due to Chiam's defection to SPP, SDP failed to win any seats and no longer have any seat representation since 1984; till this day SDP had never won any seats as of the 2015 election.
With the election of two opposition MPs, 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. A total of 13 judgements were entered against Tang for defamation.
Tang left Singapore shortly after the election and eventually found refuge in Australia.