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Though many British predict that the [[Progressive Party (Singapore)|Progressive Party]] would win and [[Tan Chye Cheng]] to become Chief Minister, the results turned into [[Upset (competition)|upset]] when [[Labour Front]] won the most seats and chairman [[David Marshall (Singaporean politician)|David Marshall]] became Singapore's first Chief Minister having elected at the [[Cairnhill Single Member Constituency|Cairnhill]] constituency with a plurality of 47.58%, defeating Tan's 36.42%. With 12 seats after two more members nominated for (the rest being independents), LF sought a [[Coalition government|coalition]] with one seat each from the [[United Malays National Organisation|UMNO]] and [[Malaysian Chinese Association|MCA]], along with three ''ex-officio'' members ([[William Allmond Codrington Goode|Sir William Goode]] (the [[Chief Secretary, Singapore|Chief Secretary of Singapore]]), [[John Davies (judge)|Sir John Edward Davies]] (the [[Attorney-General of Singapore]]) and [[Thomas Hart (civil servant)|Thomas Mure Hart]], the Finance Secretary of Singapore), the party was formed with 17, just enough to acquire a simple majority into the 32-seat assembly.<ref name=GE1955/> As a result, this election remains the only election to date where the government consist of a minority government and a hung legislature. It also remains the only election to have produced a non-[[People's Action Party]] Government in the history of Singapore.
Much to the surprise of the British, who had anticipated a Progressive victory and its leader, [[Tan Chye Cheng]], to emerge as Chief Minister, it was the Labour Front that garnered the most seats and its chairman, [[David Marshall (Singaporean politician)|David Marshall]], thus became Singapore's first Chief Minister. Both losing and winning parties were shocked by the results.<ref name=GE1955/> Labour Front formed a government with support of the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA), UMNO and the Malay Union.


In its first elections, the newly formed [[People's Action Party]], led by lawyer and former Progressive Party election agent Lee Kuan Yew, chose to field only a handful of candidates to protest against the Rendel Constitution. As independent member [[Ahmad Ibrahim (Singaporean politician)|Ahmad Ibrahim]] joined PAP following the election, PAP had 4 members in the Assembly and thus Lee became the new Leader of the Opposition.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mothership.sg/2018/02/history-of-leader-of-opposition-in-spore-from-lky-to-chiam-see-tong-and-low-thia-khiang/ |title=History of leader of Opposition in S'pore, from LKY to Chiam See Tong and Low Thia Khiang |date=18 February 2018 |work=mothership.sg|access-date=9 July 2020}}</ref>
In oppositions side, the newly formed [[People's Action Party]], led by lawyer and former Progressive Party election agent [[Lee Kuan Yew]], chose to field only a handful of candidates to protest against the Rendel Constitution. As independent member [[Ahmad Ibrahim (Singaporean politician)|Ahmad Ibrahim]] joined PAP following the election, PAP had four members in the Assembly.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mothership.sg/2018/02/history-of-leader-of-opposition-in-spore-from-lky-to-chiam-see-tong-and-low-thia-khiang/ |title=History of leader of Opposition in S'pore, from LKY to Chiam See Tong and Low Thia Khiang |date=18 February 2018 |work=mothership.sg|access-date=9 July 2020}}</ref> Lee won the second highest score of the election with 78.33% of the votes against two rivals in [[Tanjong Pagar Constituency|Tanjong Pagar]]; in a statement, Lee also considered [[Tanglin Constituency|Tanglin]] before choosing Tanjong Pagar due to the influence and welfare with dock workers in the area.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Singapore Maritime Story - Remembering Mr Lee Kuan Yew |url=https://www.mpa.gov.sg/staticfile/Cwp/assets/SRS/Issue5/news-announcements.html |website=www.srs.sg |access-date=6 July 2024 |language=en}}</ref>


While this was the last election to date where voting is not mandatory, despite the electorate had multiplied sixfold, the voter turnout barely increased to 52.66%, up by 0.61%. The [[Southern Islands Single Member Constituency|Southern Islands]] constituency had the highest turnout at 69.79%. However, six of 25 constituencies had a turnout under 50%, with Geylang having the lowest turnout at 40.84%; in comparison to the [[1951 Singaporean general election|last election]], the constituency with the lowest turnout was [[City Constituency|City]] with 43.93%.
The election saw the electorate multiply 6 folds. Voter turnout barely increased by 0.61% to 52.66%. 6 of the 25 constituencies saw voter turnout less than 50%. The lowest was that of Geylang which saw only 40.84% turning up to vote. This surpassed the [[City Constituency]]'s 43.93% turnout in [[1951 Singaporean general election|1951]] and with compulsory voting introduced in the next [[1959 Singaporean general election|1959 General Election]], this was the lowest turnout in a constituency in the non-compulsory voting period (1948-1959). The constituency with the highest voter turnout was that of [[Southern Islands Single Member Constituency|Southern Islands]] at 69.79%. The election's best performing candidate was [[Labour Front]] candidate and Future Chief Minister [[Lim Yew Hock]] who polled 86.48% of the votes. The worst performing candidate was Independent candidate Chua Kim Watt who polled just 0.55% of the votes in [[Farrer Park Single Member Constituency|Farrer Park]]. Labour Front leader and [[Chief Minister of Singapore|Chief Ministerial]] candidate [[David Marshall (Singaporean politician)|David Saul Marshall]] won his [[Cairnhill Single Member Constituency|Cairnhill]] constituency with 47.58% of the votes. Future [[Prime Minister of Singapore]] and [[People's Action Party|PAP]] leader [[Lee Kuan Yew]] won his [[Tanjong Pagar Single Member Constituency|Tanjong Pagar]] constituency with 78.33% over his two rival candidates making it the second best performance after Lim Yew Hock. Ironically, [[Progressive Party (Singapore)|PP]] leader [[Tan Chye Cheng]] was defeated in Cairnhill by David Marshall and polled just 36.42%. 10 candidates lost their $500 election deposits.


Future [[Chief Minister of Singapore]] [[Lim Yew Hock]] won with the biggest margin of 78.58% while [[Malay Union]] candidate [[Inche Sidik]] won with the narrowest margin of just 1.15%.
The election's best performing candidate was [[Labour Front]] candidate and future Chief Minister [[Lim Yew Hock]] who polled 86.48% of the votes and had a large winning margin of 78.58%, and the worst performing candidate was Independent candidate Chua Kim Watt who polled just 0.55% of the votes in [[Farrer Park Single Member Constituency|Farrer Park]]. [[Malay Union]] candidate [[Inche Sidik]] won with the narrowest margin of just 1.15%.


10 candidates lost their $500 election deposits.
Out of the 7 non-elected seats, 3 were ''ex-officio'' members namely: [[William Allmond Codrington Goode|Sir William Goode]] (the [[Chief Secretary, Singapore|Chief Secretary of Singapore]]), [[John Davies (judge)|Sir John Edward Davies]] (the [[Attorney-General of Singapore]]) and [[Thomas Hart (civil servant)|Thomas Mure Hart]], the Finance Secretary of Singapore.

4 members were nominated out of which 2 were from the [[Labour Front]] and 2 Independents. This gave the [[Labour Front|LF]] 12 seats. The Labour Front formed a Coalition Government with [[United Malays National Organisation|UMNO]] and [[Malaysian Chinese Association|MCA]] each having 1 seat. The LF-UMNO-MCA Coalition had 14 seats and with British support (3 ''ex-officio'' members) had 17 seats just enough for a majority in the 32-seat Assembly. On 6 April 1955, David Marshall was sworn in as the First Chief Minister of Singapore making him also the First Head of Government in the country.

As of 2021, this election remains the only election to have produced a minority government and a hung legislature. It also remains the only election to have produced a Non-[[People's Action Party|PAP]] Government in the history of Singapore.


{{Election results
{{Election results

Revision as of 07:40, 6 July 2024

1955 Singaporean general election
← 1951 2 April 1955 1959 →
25 of the 32 seats in the Legislative Assembly
17 seats needed for a majority
Registered300,199
Turnout52.66% (Increase 0.61pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader David Marshall Tan Chye Cheng Tan Ek Khoo
Party LF PP DP
Last election – 45.37%, 6 seats –
Seats won 10 4 2
Seat change New Decrease 2 New
Popular vote 42,300 38,695 32,115
Percentage 27.06% 24.75% 20.54%
Swing New Decrease 20.62% New
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Lee Kuan Yew Wong Foo Nam Abdul Hamid Jumat
Party PAP MCA UMNO
Last election – – –
Seats won 3 1 1
Seat change New New New
Popular vote 13,634 6,203 5,721
Percentage 8.72% 3.97% 3.66%
Swing New New New
  Seventh party
 
Leader Inche Sidik
Party Malay Union
Last election –
Seats won 1
Seat change New
Popular vote 1,233
Percentage 0.79%
Swing New
Results by constituency
Chief Minister before election

Position established

 Chief Minister after election

David Marshall
LF

This article is part of a series on
Politics of Singapore
Government
Legislature
Executive
Judiciary
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General elections were held in Singapore on 2 April 1955 to elect members to the 25 elected seats in the Legislative Assembly. Nomination day was on 28 February 1955.

Background

Following the promulgation of the Rendel Constitution, the 1955 elections were the first occasion on which a majority of the seats were to be elected rather than be appointed by the colonial authorities. The new constitution was written after recommendations by a committee to grant local citizens more autonomy, headed by George Rendel, were passed.

According to the new Constitution, locals would share executive power with the colonial authorities and there would be a Chief Minister among elected legislators. The number of elected seats was increased to 25, with the British government appointing the remaining seven members. For the first time, political parties were permitted to adopt a standard party symbol for all their candidates and independents to select theirs instead of balloting for them.[1]

The Governor of Singapore and Colonial Secretary posts were replaced by a Chief Secretary, who inherited the power to appoint four nominated Assembly Members. Also scrapped were the seats of the Solicitor-General, two directors, two ex officios, the three commercial organisations and the City Council representative.

Timeline

Date Event
5 February Dissolution of the Legislative Council
28 February Nomination Day
2 April Polling day
6 April Inauguration of David Marshall as Chief Minister
7 April Formation of Council of Ministers
22 April Opening of 1st Legislative Assembly

Changes in electoral boundaries

See also: List of Singaporean electoral divisions (1955–59)
Constituency Divisions formed from
Bukit Panjang Bukit Timah & Seletar
Cairnhill Balestier, Rochore & Tanglin
Farrer Park Balestier
Geylang Katong
Havelock City, Keppel & Tanglin
Kampong Kapor Rochore
Pasir Panjang Bukit Timah & Keppel
Paya Lebar Changi & Katong
Punggol–Tampines Changi
Queenstown Bukit Timah, Keppel & Tanglin
Sembawang Bukit Timah & Seletar
Serangoon Balestier, Changi & Seletar
Southern Islands Bukit Timah & Keppel
Stamford City & Rochore
Tanjong Pagar City & Keppel
Telok Ayer City
Tiong Bahru Keppel
Ulu Bedok Changi
Whampoa Balestier

Results

The Straits Times front page on election day
The Sunday Times the day after the election, reporting on the results and David Marshall's Labour Front victory.

Though many British predict that the Progressive Party would win and Tan Chye Cheng to become Chief Minister, the results turned into upset when Labour Front won the most seats and chairman David Marshall became Singapore's first Chief Minister having elected at the Cairnhill constituency with a plurality of 47.58%, defeating Tan's 36.42%. With 12 seats after two more members nominated for (the rest being independents), LF sought a coalition with one seat each from the UMNO and MCA, along with three ex-officio members (Sir William Goode (the Chief Secretary of Singapore), Sir John Edward Davies (the Attorney-General of Singapore) and Thomas Mure Hart, the Finance Secretary of Singapore), the party was formed with 17, just enough to acquire a simple majority into the 32-seat assembly.[1] As a result, this election remains the only election to date where the government consist of a minority government and a hung legislature. It also remains the only election to have produced a non-People's Action Party Government in the history of Singapore.

In oppositions side, the newly formed People's Action Party, led by lawyer and former Progressive Party election agent Lee Kuan Yew, chose to field only a handful of candidates to protest against the Rendel Constitution. As independent member Ahmad Ibrahim joined PAP following the election, PAP had four members in the Assembly.[2] Lee won the second highest score of the election with 78.33% of the votes against two rivals in Tanjong Pagar; in a statement, Lee also considered Tanglin before choosing Tanjong Pagar due to the influence and welfare with dock workers in the area.[3]

While this was the last election to date where voting is not mandatory, despite the electorate had multiplied sixfold, the voter turnout barely increased to 52.66%, up by 0.61%. The Southern Islands constituency had the highest turnout at 69.79%. However, six of 25 constituencies had a turnout under 50%, with Geylang having the lowest turnout at 40.84%; in comparison to the last election, the constituency with the lowest turnout was City with 43.93%.

The election's best performing candidate was Labour Front candidate and future Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock who polled 86.48% of the votes and had a large winning margin of 78.58%, and the worst performing candidate was Independent candidate Chua Kim Watt who polled just 0.55% of the votes in Farrer Park. Malay Union candidate Inche Sidik won with the narrowest margin of just 1.15%.

10 candidates lost their $500 election deposits.

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Labour Front42,30027.0610New
Progressive Party38,69524.754–2
Democratic Party32,11520.542New
People's Action Party13,6348.723New
Malayan Chinese Association6,2033.971New
United Malays National Organisation5,7213.661New
Labour Party1,3250.850–2
Malay Union1,2330.791New
Independents15,0989.663+2
Total156,324100.0025+16
Valid votes156,32498.89
Invalid/blank votes1,7511.11
Total votes158,075100.00
Registered voters/turnout300,19952.66
Source: Singapore Elections

By constituency

Constituency Electorate Party Candidate Votes %
Bukit Panjang 8,012 Progressive Party Goh Tong Liang 3,097 72.21
Labour Front Lim Wee Toh 1,192 27.79
Bukit Timah 9,173 People's Action Party Lim Chin Siong 3,259 52.45
Democratic Party Tan Wah Meng 1,308 21.05
Labour Front A. N. Mitra 924 14.88
Progressive Party S. F. Ho 722 11.62
Cairnhill 13,528 Labour Front David Marshall 3,305 47.58
Progressive Party Tan Chye Cheng 2,530 36.42
Democratic Party Tan Khiang Khoo 1,111 16.00
Changi 11,239 Democratic Party Lim Cher Kheng 2,624 45.08
Progressive Party S. G. Mohamed Ghows 1,699 29.19
Labour Front Wong Sau Sheung 1,498 25.73
Farrer Park 12,242 Labour Front Anthony Rebeiro Lazarous 2,585 38.52
People's Action Party Devan Nair 2,219 33.07
Progressive Party Eric Wee Sian Beng 1,784 26.59
Independent C. T. B. Unnithan 85 1.27
Independent Chua Kim Watt 37 0.55
Geylang 16,604 Labour Front Mak Pak Shee 2,756 41.17
Independent Goh Hood Kiat 1,386 20.71
Labour Party Lee Yong Min 1,325 19.80
Democratic Party Lam Joon Chong 1,226 18.32
Havelock 12,835 Labour Front Lim Yew Hock 5,744 86.48
Independent C. S. Soh 525 7.90
Progressive Party Chua Bock Kwee 373 5.62
Kampong Kapor 13,815 Labour Front Seah Peng Chuan 3,253 45.60
Independent Caralapati Raghaviah Dasaratha Raj 2,155 30.21
Democratic Party Wong Shian Yein 1,283 17.98
Progressive Party Lim Kian Lee 443 6.21
Katong 22,196 Labour Front Armand Joseph Braga 4,680 45.66
Progressive Party John Laycock 2,965 28.93
Democratic Party Chan Wah Chip 2,605 25.41
Pasir Panjang 13,812 Malayan Chinese Association Wong Foo Nam 3,546 45.17
Progressive Party K. Mohd S. Hamid 2,370 30.19
Labour Front P. V. Krishnan 1,306 16.63
Democratic Party Leong Foon Chew 629 8.01
Paya Lebar 12,827 Progressive Party Lim Koon Teck 3,330 52.07
Democratic Party Tan Eng Joo 3,065 47.93
Punggol–Tampines 6,628 People's Action Party Goh Chew Chua 2,127 55.38
Democratic Party Anthony Goh 918 23.90
Progressive Party H. A. De Silva 796 20.72
Queenstown 7,015 Labour Front Lee Choon Eng 2,792 67.28
Democratic Party Murray Bruce Brash 736 17.73
Progressive Party Elizabeth Choy 622 14.99
Rochore 12,073 Labour Front Tan Theng Chiang 2,929 46.25
Democratic Party Ong Eng Lian 1,897 29.95
Progressive Party Soh Ghee Soon 1,507 23.80
Seletar 9,402 Independent Madai Puthan Damodaran Nair 1,771 31.83
Independent Lek Poh Song 1,632 29.33
Democratic Party Tan Leong Teck 1,252 22.50
Labour Front Khew Pee Ging 909 16.34
Sembawang 10,675 Independent Ahmad Ibrahim 4,281 63.24
Progressive Party Lee Kim Kee 2,488 36.76
Serangoon 8,402 Progressive Party Lim Choon Mong 2,172 45.83
Democratic Party Lim Chye Seng 1,412 29.80
Malayan Chinese Association Lim Siew Ek 1,155 24.37
Southern Islands 3,548 Malay Union Inche Sidik 1,233 50.57
Progressive Party Hollupatherage James Caldera Kulasingha 1,205 49.43
Stamford 13,207 Labour Front Jumabhoy Mohamed Jumabhoy 2,691 43.08
Independent T. A. Simon 1,281 20.51
Progressive Party Nazir Ahmad Mallal 1,153 18.46
Democratic Party Ng Sen Choy 1,121 17.95
Tanglin 16,177 Progressive Party John Anthony Moore Ede 3,214 45.67
Democratic Party Lim Yong Bock 2,501 35.54
Labour Front Lim Seow Chuan 1,322 18.79
Tanjong Pagar 13,430 People's Action Party Lee Kuan Yew 6,029 78.33
Progressive Party Peter Lim Seck Tiong 908 11.80
Democratic Party Lam Thian 760 9.87
Telok Ayer 11,547 Independent Rajabali Jumabhoy 1,945 39.90
Democratic Party Sng Siak Hwee 1,453 30.30
Labour Front Tan Ewe Chee 1,660 29.80
Tiong Bahru 12,664 Democratic Party William Tan Ah Lek 2,264 38.60
Progressive Party Foo Few Ting 2,100 35.80
Malayan Chinese Association Teo Seng Bee 1,502 25.60
Ulu Bedok 16,903 United Malays National Organisation Abdul Hamid Jumat 5,721 61.04
Democratic Party Toh Seng Sit 2,999 32.00
Progressive Party Abdul Hamid bin Rahmat 652 6.96
Whampoa 12,345 Labour Front Chew Swee Kee 2,961 45.88
Progressive Party Thio Chan Bee 2,565 39.75
Democratic Party Lee Kok Liang 927 14.37
Source: ELD, Singapore Elections

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "1955 Legislative Assembly general election". National Library Board. 24 January 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  2. ^ "History of leader of Opposition in S'pore, from LKY to Chiam See Tong and Low Thia Khiang". mothership.sg. 18 February 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  3. ^ "The Singapore Maritime Story - Remembering Mr Lee Kuan Yew". www.srs.sg. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  • Sr, Pugalenthi (1996) Elections in Singapore VJ Times International Pte Ltd, Singapore ISBN 981-221-025-3
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