Singaporean general election, 1948

Singaporean general election, 1948

20 March 1948

6 (of the 22) seats to the Legislative Council Turnout 63.1%   Majority party Minority party   Leader – Tan Chye Cheng Party Independent PP Leader since 1945 Leader's seat – Municipal South-West Seats won 3 3 Popular vote 11,997 11,754 Percentage 50.5% 49.5%

Results by constituency

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General elections were held for the first time in Singapore on 20 March 1948,^[1] when six of the 22 seats on the Legislative Council became directly-elected. Voting was not compulsory and a restricted to British subjects, who constituted around 2% of the 940,000 population. Although various organisations called for a boycott of the elections, voter turnout was 63.1%.

The Progressive Party (PP) was the only contesting party, winning three of the six elected seats.

Background

The election was announced on 1 February, and nominations were due by 15 February. The campaign period lasted for 31 days.

Electoral system

Of the 22 seats in the Legislative Council, six were elected, three nominated by commercial organisations (the Singapore Chamber of Commerce, Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Indian Chamber of Commerce), and thirteen appointed by the British authorities; these included the Governor, Colonial Secretary, Financial Secretary, Attorney-General, Solicitor-General, two Directors, two ex officio Commissioners and four non-officio ones.

The six elected seats were elected from four constituencies; two two-seat constituencies and two single-member constituencies. Parties had no fixed standard symbol and candidates had to ballot for one offered by the elections office.

Results

By constituency

See also

• List of Singaporean electoral divisions (1948–51)

References

Elections and referendums in Singapore
General elections	1948 1951 1955 1959 1963 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1991 1997 2001 2006 2011 2015 Next
By-elections	1948 1952 1957 1961 1965 1966 1967 1970 1977 1979 1981 1992 2012 2013 2016
Presidential elections	1993 1999‡ 2005‡ 2011 2017
Local elections	1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1949 (Apr) 1949 (Dec) 1950 1951 1952 1953 1957
Referendums	1962
‡ uncontested