Singaporean general election, 1984

Singaporean general election, 1984
Singapore
22 December 1984
79 (Only 49 contested) seats to the Parliament of Singapore

40 seats needed for a majority

  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Lee Kuan Yew J.B. Jeyaretnam Chiam See Tong
Party PAP WP SDP
Leader's seat Tanjong Pagar Anson Potong Pasir
Last election 75 seats, 77.7% 0 seat, 6.2% 0 seat, 1.8%
Seats won 77 1 1
Seat change Increase2 Increase1 Increase1
Popular vote 568,310 110,939 32,102
Percentage 64.8% 12.7% 3.7%
Swing Decrease12.9% Increase6.5% Increase1.9%
Prime Minister before election

Lee Kuan Yew
PAP

 Elected Prime Minister

Lee Kuan Yew
PAP

Singapore
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General elections were held in Singapore on 22 December 1984. The result was a victory for the People's Action Party, which won 77 of the 79 seats, marking the first time since 1963 that they had not won every seat. Voter turnout was 95.6%, although this figure represents the turnout in the 49 constituencies to be contested,[1] with PAP candidates earning walkovers in the other 30.

Background

In his 1983 National Day Rally speech, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew lamented that declining birth rates and large number of graduate women remaining single or not marrying their intellectual equal could see Singapore's talent pool shrink. The PAP government then proceeded to launch the "Graduate Mother Scheme" to entice graduate women with incentives to get married. These were said to have caused a big dip in PAP's support for this GE and its share of votes plunged by more than 10% to below 70%, the biggest fall and the lowest for PAP since the 1963 General Election.

No by-election was held for the seat of Havelock, vacated in 1983 upon the passing away of Minister of Finance Hon Sui Sen, for the reason that the constituency will be redrawn and merged into Delta constituency.

PM Lee's son and future prime minister Lee Hsien Loong made his debut in the seat of Teck Ghee, while PAP stalwarts Dr Goh Keng Swee and Ong Pang Boon stepped down. In the only election among several preceding and succeeding ones, election deposit remained unchanged. The Workers' Party of Singapore (WP) retained, with an increased majority, its sole Anson seat of leader J. B. Jeyaretnam while the Singapore Democratic Party made its first in-road into Parliament with the victory of Chiam See Tong, who would hold on to the Potong Pasir Single Member Constituency in many years to come. A new Non-Constituency Member of Parliament scheme was introduced whereby between three and six seats, the exact number decided by the President of Singapore, would be offered to unsuccessful opposition candidates with the best scores and who garner at least 15% of the votes if any one party wins all the seats, subtracting one NCMP seat for every one opposition MP elected. Opposition parties dismissed the scheme for misleading voters into thinking that they could have opposition MPs without voting for them. WP's candidate M.P.D. Nair was eligible for NCMP but declined, which was then offered to the Singapore United Front's Tan Chee Kien, who did the same, and no further offers were made.

The newer constituencies are those with rapid developments of Ang Mo Kio, Tampines, Jurong East, Bedok & Jurong West (smaller developments):

Retirement from politics

New MPs

Results

Party Votes % Seats +/–
People's Action Party568,31064.877+2
Workers' Party110,93912.71+1
Singapore United Front87,1979.900
Singapore Democratic Party32,1023.71+1
United People's Front27,2173.100
Barisan Sosialis24,2122.800
Singapore Justice Party10,9061.200
Singapore Malay National Organisation4,7680.500
Angkatan Islam3590.00New
Independents10,5861.20New
Invalid/blank votes26,384–––
Total909,98010079+4
Source: Nohlen et al.

References

  1. ↑ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p255 ISBN 0-19-924959-8
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