1951 Singaporean general election

1951 Singaporean general election

8 March 1951
9 of the 22 seats in the Legislative Council
Registered	48,155
Turnout	52.05% ( 11.20pp)
Majority party Minority party   Leader Tan Chye Cheng Lim Yew Hock Party Progressive Labour Last election 49.49%, 3 seats – Seats won 6 2 Seat change 3 New Popular vote 11,202 7,335 Percentage 45.37% 29.70% Swing 4.12% New
Results by constituency

General elections were held in Singapore on 10 April 1951 to elect members to nine seats in the Legislative Council, up from six seats in the 1948 elections. A 32-day-long campaign period was scheduled, with nomination day on 8 March 1951. The result was a victory for the Progressive Party, which won six of the nine seats.

Electoral system

The Legislative Council was increased from 22 to 25 members, with the number of elected seats increased from six to nine. Three seats were nominated by the three commercial organisations (the Singapore Chamber of Commerce, Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Indian Chamber of Commerce), whilst the British colonial government appointed the remaining 13 seats, which were given to the Governor, Colonial Secretary, Financial Secretary, Attorney-General, Solicitor-General, two Directors, two ex officio Commissioners and four non-officio ones. One of the four non-officio members, only one woman was appointed, war heroine Elizabeth Choy, who ran unsuccessfully in the 1950 Municipal Commission elections.

The British government approved the suggestion by political parties to create six constituencies within the city according to municipal districts, including Balestier (North), Keppel (South), Katong (East) and Tanglin (West), while the rural area was divided into three instead of two. The joint districts were scrapped. Voting was again not compulsory and the franchise restricted.

Campaign

The Progressive Party's main political opponent at the municipal level, the Labour Party, entered the legislative fray. Well-known Malay politician Mansoor bin Adabi, husband of Maria Bertha Hertogh (also known as Natra binte Maarof), the young Dutch woman whose parentage controversy sparked a racial riot in Singapore the previous year, planned to contest Bukit Timah under the PP banner but withdrew his nomination at the final minute for unknown reasons. The campaign manager for PP vice-chairman John Laycock was Lee Kuan Yew, a legal assistant in the former's law firm who would form the People's Action Party in 1954.

Out of 48,155 registered voters, only 52% voted. There had been boycott calls and the city was still suffering from the after-effects of the Maria Hertogh riots four months before the elections.

The elections saw the first electoral contest for the reserved seat for the Indian Chamber of Commerce.

Results

Voter turnout was significantly lower than in the previous elections of 1948, falling to 52.05%, 11 percentage points lower than the 1948 elections. Voter turnout was highest in Seletar at 69% while City saw the lowest voter turnout at just 44%, while three other constituencies also had turnouts lower than 50%, the first time in Singapore's electoral history that voter turnout had been below 50%.

Vilasini Menon became the first woman elected to the Legislative Council, winning the Seletar constituency as an independent. Progressive Party leader Tan Chye Cheng was the best performing candidate, receiving 80% of the vote in Tanglin while independent candidate Mizra Abdul Majid was the worst performing candidate by polling just 4% in City and being the only candidate to lose their $500 deposit. In absolute numbers, Labour Party leader Lim Yew Hock received the highest number of votes (2,369) in Keppel while Labour Party candidate Thomas Davies Richards of Tanglin was the worst performing candidate with just 351 votes.

In terms of vote margin, the Labour Party's candidate Caralapati Raghaviah Dasaratha Raj won with the narrowest margin of 6.56% while PP leader Tan Chye Cheng won with the biggest margin of 60.27%.

By winning six of the nine constituency seats, the Progressive Party became the first and only party to win a two-thirds majority prior to 1959 and the only party other than the People's Action Party to do so.

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Progressive Party	11,202	45.37	6	+3
	Labour Party	7,335	29.70	2	New
	Independents	6,156	24.93	1	–2
Total		24,693	100.00	9	+3
Valid votes		24,693	98.52
Invalid/blank votes		372	1.48
Total votes		25,065	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		48,155	52.05
Source: Singapore Elections

By constituency

Constituency	Electorate	Party		Candidate	Votes	%
Balestier	5,246		Progressive Party	Thio Chan Bee	1,560	58.34
			Labour Party	Peter Massillamany Williams	593	22.18
			Independent	Jagatheesan Kalimuthu	521	19.48
Bukit Timah	3,850		Progressive Party	Hollupatherage James Caldera Kulasingha	1,311	57.15
			Labour Party	Valiya Purayil Abdullah	983	42.85
Changi	3,623		Progressive Party	Charles Joseph Pemberton Paglar	1,486	72.52
			Labour Party	Syed Mohamed Abdul Hameed Chisty	563	27.48
City	5,611		Progressive Party	Nazir Ahmad Mallal	1,308	53.85
			Independent	Balwant Singh Bajaj	1,025	42.20
			Independent	Mirza Abdul Majid	96	3.95
Katong	6,669		Progressive Party	John Laycock	2,075	64.20'
			Independent	Goh Hood Kiat	1,157	35.80
Keppel	6,683		Labour Party	Lim Yew Hock	2,369	67.96
			Progressive Party	Arumugam Ponnu Rajah	1,117	32.04
Rochore	7,493		Labour Party	Caralapati Raghaviah Dasaratha Raj	1,433	43.12
			Independent	Mohamed Javad Namazie	1,215	36.56
			Independent	Pandarapillai Thillai Nathan	675	20.32
Seletar	5,025		Independent	Vilasini Menon	1,467	42.66
			Labour Party	Gopalan Nair Nanupillai	1,043	30.33
			Progressive Party	V. Vayloo Pakirisamy	929	27.01
Tanglin	3,955		Progressive Party	Tan Chye Cheng	1,416	80.14
			Labour Party	Thomas Davies Richards	351	19.86
Singapore Chamber of Commerce	–		–	Ewen MacGregor Field Fergusson	Uncontested
Chinese Chamber of Commerce	–		–	Tan Chin Tuan	Uncontested
Indian Chamber of Commerce	248		–	Rajabali Jumabhoy	147	62.03
			–	Hardial Singh	90	37.97
Source: Singapore Elections Archived 27 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine

See also

• List of Singaporean electoral divisions (1951–55)