1984 Singaporean general election

1984 Singaporean general election

← 1980 22 December 1984 1988 →
79 (Only 49 contested) seats to the Parliament of Singapore 40 seats needed for a majority
Registered	944,624
Turnout	903,499 (95.65%) 0.15pp
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 SMC Anson SMC Potong Pasir SMC Last election 77.7%, 75 seats 6.2%, 0 seats 1.8%, 0 seats Seats won 77 1 1 Seat change 2 1 1 Popular vote 568,310 110,868 32,102 Percentage 64.83% 12.65% 3.66% Swing 12.83pp 6.43pp 1.89pp
Prime Minister before election Lee Kuan Yew PAP Prime Minister after election Lee Kuan Yew PAP

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General elections were held in Singapore on 22 December 1984. President Devan Nair dissolved parliament on 4 December 1984 on the advice of Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. 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 at least one opposition candidate was elected to parliament, although the first presence of opposition was in 1981.

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 Mothers' Scheme" to entice graduate women with incentives to get married and grant graduate mothers priority in the best schools for their third child.^[1] The proposal was met with anger by the Singapore public (including many female graduates) and the PAP government drew accusations of elitism, and even eugenics. Notably, prominent PAP stalwarts like Deputy Prime Minister S. Rajaratnam and also ex-minister Toh Chin Chye expressed opposition to the proposal.^[2][3]

In March 1984, Health Minister Howe Yoon Chong released a controversial proposal to raise the age for the withdrawal of Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings from 55 to 60 years. At a news conference on 26 March 1984, Howe reasoned that Singaporeans could not depend only on their children in their old age. That suggestion, part of the 54-page report of the Committee on the Problems of the Aged^[4] which he chaired, was eventually dropped. Taking up the suggestions in the report, the Singapore Government subsequently introduced the Minimum Sum scheme. This allows workers to withdraw some of their CPF funds at age 55, setting aside a certain minimum sum which can only be withdrawn at retirement age, currently at 62 years.^[5][6]

These controversial proposals sparked debate and uproar in the Singapore electorate and were said to have contributed to a big dip in PAP's support and its share of votes plunged by 12.9% to below 64.8%, the biggest fall and the lowest for PAP since the 1963 General Election (this remains the largest anti-PAP swing ever in a seriously contested general election as of 2020). In his memoirs, Lee Kuan Yew recalled that the swing against the PAP was larger than what he expected.

New candidates/outgoing incumbents[]

Minister of Finance Hon Sui Sen died during his term on 14 October 1983 and his seat of Havelock was vacated, but no by-election was held on the constituency, and announced to be merged into Delta constituency. Tony Tan succeeded Hon as the new Finance Minister.

PM Lee's son Lee Hsien Loong (who went on to become the nation's third (and current) Prime Minister) 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, the election deposit ($1,500) remained unchanged. The Workers' Party of Singapore (WP) secretary-general J. B. Jeyaretnam successfully retained the Anson constituency with an increased majority, while the Singapore Democratic Party made its first in-road into Parliament with the victory of Chiam See Tong, who would serve the Potong Pasir Single Member Constituency for the next 26 years until 2011; this also began a continuing trend whereas three political parties were represented in Parliament (regardless of status as a NCMP or an elected MP) with the exception of 1986-88 (due to the disqualification of sole-WP candidate J. B. Jeyaretnam in 1986), and 2015-20 (all the nine minimum opposition seats were awarded to a single party of WP, with three being NCMPs).

Non-Constituency Member of Parliament scheme[]

A new Non-Constituency Member of Parliament scheme was introduced whereby between three and six seats, the exact number which was 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. M.P.D. Nair of WP who contested Jalan Kayu was the first to be offered but declined. The offer was then made to Singapore United Front's Tan Chee Kien who contested Kaki Bukit, who also declined, and no further offers were made.

Timeline[]

Electoral boundaries[]

The newer constituencies are those with rapid developments of Ang Mo Kio, Tampines, Jurong East, Bedok & Jurong West (smaller developments), while other constituencies were dissolved, which was reflected in the table:

New/Outgoing MP[]

^Note : A caret indicates that the constituency was removed and absorbed to other wards.

Results[]

Chua Chu Kang SMC United People's Front candidate Teo Kim Hoe who garnered only 196 votes, or 0.81% of the valid votes cast, set a worst-scoring result for any candidates in the history of the election until the 2013 by-election where Desmond Lim surpassed the record with 168 votes or 0.53% of the valid votes;^[7] not counting by-elections, the record has also be broken by independent candidate Samir Salim Neji in the 2015 general election, with 150 votes or 0.60% of the valid votes.

Excluding the 30 uncontested constituencies, the voter turnout was 95.6%, with 63.2% of the total electorate casting their votes.^[8]

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	People's Action Party	568,310	64.83	77	+2
	Workers' Party	110,868	12.65	1	+1
	Singapore United Front	87,237	9.95	0	0
	Singapore Democratic Party	32,102	3.66	1	+1
	United People's Front	27,217	3.10	0	0
	Barisan Sosialis	24,212	2.76	0	0
	Singapore Justice Party	10,906	1.24	0	0
	Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura	4,768	0.54	0	0
	Angkatan Islam	359	0.04	0	New
	Independents	10,586	1.21	0	New
Total		876,565	100.00	79	+4
Valid votes		876,565	97.08
Invalid/blank votes		26,394	2.92
Total votes		902,959	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,495,389	60.38
Source: Singapore Elections[a]

By constituency[]

Constituency	Electorate	Party	Candidate	Votes	%
Alexandra	19,670	People's Action Party	Tan Soo Khoon	12,172	66.79 / 100
		Workers' Party		6,053	33.21 / 100
Aljunied	19,045	People's Action Party	Chin Harn Tong	Uncontested walkover
Ang Mo Kio	14,633	People's Action Party		9,909	72.75 / 100
		United People's Front		3,711	27.25 / 100
Anson	18,493	Workers' Party	Joshua Benjamin Jeyaratnam	9,909	56.81 / 100
		People's Action Party	Ng Pock Too	7,533	43.19 / 100
Ayer Rajah	20,017	People's Action Party	Tan Cheng Bock	14,050	75.44 / 100
		Singapore Justice Party		4,575	24.56 / 100
Bedok	17,074	People's Action Party	Shunmugam Jayakumar	10,972	68.95 / 100
		Singapore United Front		4,941	31.05 / 100
Bo Wen	14,777	People's Action Party		10,299	74.70 / 100
		United People's Front		3,488	25.30 / 100
Boon Lay	18,964	People's Action Party		12,490	69.65 / 100
		Singapore United Front		5,443	30.35 / 100
Boon Teck	19,490	People's Action Party		10,224	56.16 / 100
		Barisan Sosialis	Lee Siew Choh	7,982	43.84 / 100
Braddell Heights	14,152	People's Action Party		Uncontested walkover
Brickworks	13,571	People's Action Party	Ahmad bin Mohamed Mattar	8,389	66.27 / 100
		Workers' Party		4,270	33.73 / 100
Bukit Batok	20,812	People's Action Party		14,767	78.27 / 100
		United People's Front		4,099	21.73 / 100
Bukit Merah	19,210	People's Action Party		Uncontested walkover
Bukit Panjang	23,173	People's Action Party		Uncontested walkover
Bukit Timah	17,238	People's Action Party		Uncontested walkover
Buona Vista	18,041	People's Action Party		Uncontested walkover
Cairnhill	15,862	People's Action Party		Uncontested walkover
Changi	20,129	People's Action Party		12,195	65.75 / 100
		Singapore United Front		6,353	34.25 / 100
Changkat	18,742	People's Action Party	Aline Wong-Kan Lai Chung	10,310	58.56 / 100
		Singapore Democratic Party		7,297	41.44 / 100
Cheng San	17,328	People's Action Party	Lee Yock Suan	Uncontested walkover
Chong Boon	20,650	People's Action Party		11,058	56.02 / 100
		Singapore Democratic Party		8,681	43.98 / 100
Chua Chu Kang	25,532	People's Action Party		13,254	54.84 / 100
		Workers' Party		10,720	44.35 / 100
		United People's Front	(Loses $1,500 deposit)	196	0.81 / 100
Clementi	20,890	People's Action Party		Uncontested walkover
Delta	14,800	People's Action Party		7,987	58.72 / 100
		Workers' Party		5,614	41.28 / 100
Eunos	17,615	People's Action Party	Zulkifli bin Mohammed	10,494	64.81 / 100
		Singapore United Front		5,697	35.19 / 100
Fengshan	18,407	People's Action Party		11,216	65.13 / 100
		Singapore United Front		6,005	34.87 / 100
Geylang Serai	24,109	People's Action Party		14,564	65.57 / 100
		Singapore United Front		7,649	34.43 / 100
Geylang West	22,325	People's Action Party	Teh Cheang Wan	13,798	66.83 / 100
		Singapore United Front		2,994	34.43 / 100
Henderson	17,630	People's Action Party		9,695	58.80 / 100
		Workers' Party		6,793	41.20 / 100
Hong Kah	22,062	People's Action Party	Yeo Cheow Tong	Uncontested walkover
Jalan Besar	16,115	People's Action Party	Lee Boon Yang	9,236	64.43 / 100
		Workers' Party		5,100	35.57 / 100
Jalan Kayu	25,011	People's Action Party		11,985	51.22 / 100
		Workers' Party	[b]	11,414	48.78 / 100
Joo Chiat	18,957	People's Action Party	Yeoh Ghim Seng	Uncontested walkover
Jurong	24,517	People's Action Party	Ho Kah Leong	Uncontested walkover
Kaki Bukit	20,683	People's Action Party		10,229	52.28 / 100
		Singapore United Front	[c]	9,336	47.72 / 100
Kallang	18,809	People's Action Party	Suppiah Dhanabalan	11,256	64.95 / 100
		Workers' Party		6,075	35.05 / 100
Kampong Chai Chee	22,537	People's Action Party		12,125	57.16 / 100
		Singapore United Front		9,087	42.84 / 100
Kampong Glam	18,127	People's Action Party	Sinnathamby Rajaratnam	Uncontested walkover
Kampong Kembangan	20,295	People's Action Party		10,326	55.71 / 100
		Workers' Party	Mohamed Jufrie bin Mahmood	3,023	35.05 / 100
Kampong Ubi	14,323	People's Action Party		8,378	63.73 / 100
		Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura		4,768	36.27 / 100
Kebun Baru	17,542	People's Action Party	Lim Boon Heng	12,311	75.84 / 100
		United People's Front	Harbans Singh	3,921	24.16 / 100
Khe Bong	15,773	People's Action Party	Tang Guan Seng	9,221	62.53 / 100
		Barisan Sosialis		5,525	37.47 / 100
Kim Keat	20,439	People's Action Party	Ong Teng Cheong	Uncontested walkover
Kim Seng	22,136	People's Action Party	Yeo Ning Hong	Uncontested walkover
Kolam Ayer	23,630	People's Action Party	Sidek bin Saniff	12,812	57.91 / 100
		Workers' Party		9,311	42.09 / 100
Kreta Ayer	15,982	People's Action Party	Hu Tsu Tau Richard	11,083	83.17 / 100
		Independent		2,242	16.83 / 100
Kuo Chuan	18,728	People's Action Party	Wong Kan Seng	11,162	64.55 / 100
		Barisan Sosialis		6,129	35.45 / 100
Leng Kee	14,805	People's Action Party		9,190	66.84 / 100
		Workers' Party		4,559	33.16 / 100
MacPherson	19,500	People's Action Party	Chua Sian Chin	Uncontested walkover
Marine Parade	23,622	People's Action Party	Goh Chok Tong	15,228	70.93 / 100
		Singapore United Front		6,242	29.07 / 100
Moulmein	18,893	People's Action Party		Uncontested walkover
Mountbatten	21,480	People's Action Party		16,077	81.32 / 100
		Independent		3,692	18.68 / 100
Nee Soon	26,897	People's Action Party		18,444	74.24 / 100
		Singapore United Front		6,401	25.76 / 100
Pasir Panjang	17,149	People's Action Party	Abbas bin Abu Amin	9,316	59.35 / 100
		Workers' Party		6,022	38.36 / 100
		Angkatan Islam Singapura	(Loses $1,500 deposit)	359	2.29 / 100
Paya Lebar	18,420	People's Action Party		Uncontested walkover
Potong Pasir	17,915	Singapore Democratic Party	Chiam See Tong	10,128	60.28 / 100
		People's Action Party	Mah Bow Tan	5,509	39.72 / 100
Punggol	24,727	People's Action Party		14,904	65.09 / 100
		Singapore United Front		7,995	34.91 / 100
Queenstown	18,084	People's Action Party	Jek Yeun Thong	Uncontested walkover
Radin Mas	19,770	People's Action Party	Chng Hee Kok	9,997	53.78 / 100
		Workers' Party		8,590	46.22 / 100
River Valley	13,481	People's Action Party	Tay Eng Soon	Uncontested walkover
Rochore	14,164	People's Action Party	Toh Chin Chye	Uncontested walkover
Sembawang	22,326	People's Action Party	Tony Tan Keng Yam	15,948	77.42 / 100
		Independent		4,652	22.58 / 100
Serangoon Gardens	17,553	People's Action Party		Uncontested walkover
Siglap	17,090	People's Action Party	Abdullah bin Tarmugi	Uncontested walkover
Tampines	19,656	People's Action Party	Phua Bah Lee	13,163	72.34 / 100
		United People's Front		5,032	27.66 / 100
Tanah Merah	17,808	People's Action Party		11,093	68.08 / 100
		Singapore United Front		5,201	31.92 / 100
Tanglin	15,990	People's Action Party	Edmund William Barker	Uncontested walkover
Tanjong Pagar	15,812	People's Action Party	Lee Kuan Yew	Uncontested walkover
Teck Ghee	16,866	People's Action Party	Lee Hsien Loong	12,794	80.38 / 100
		United People's Front		3,123	19.62 / 100
Telok Ayer	13,984	People's Action Party	Ong Pang Boon	Uncontested walkover
Telok Blangah	19,550	People's Action Party		10,150	55.02 / 100
		Workers' Party		8,299	44.98 / 100
Thomson	15,271	People's Action Party		Uncontested walkover
Tiong Bahru	20,091	People's Action Party		Uncontested walkover
Toa Payoh	14,177	People's Action Party		8,559	65.16 / 100
		Barisan Sosialis		4,576	34.84 / 100
Ulu Pandan	22,761	People's Action Party	Dixie Tan-Lee Mo Chun	Uncontested walkover
West Coast	28,008	People's Action Party	Wan Soon Bee	19,745	75.72 / 100
		Singapore Justice Party		6,331	24.28 / 100
Whampoa	18,494	People's Action Party		Uncontested walkover
Yio Chu Kang	16,734	People's Action Party		11,977	76.66 / 100
		United People's Front		3,647	23.34 / 100
Yuhua	16,266	People's Action Party	Yu-Foo Yee Shoon	9,551	61.43 / 100
		Singapore Democratic Party		5,996	38.57 / 100
Source: ELD

Notes[]

References[]