1976 Singaporean general election

1976 Singaporean general election

23 December 1976
All 69 seats to the Parliament of Singapore 35 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	95.1%
First party   Leader Lee Kuan Yew Party PAP Leader's seat Tanjong Pagar Last election 65 seats, 70.4% Seats before 65 Seats won 69 Seat change 4 Popular vote 815,130 Percentage 74.1 Swing 3.7%
Winning party by constituency.

General elections were held in Singapore on 23 December 1976. The result was a victory for the People's Action Party, which won all 69 seats, the third of four consecutive elections in which they repeated the feat. Voter turnout was 95.1%, out of 857,297 voters eligible (from the total electorate of 1,095,817) from the 53 contested constituencies.

Electoral system

The 69 members of Parliament were elected from 69 single-member constituencies, an increase from 65 used for the previous elections in 1972. The deposit was increased for the first time to $1,200, up from $500.

Timeline

Date	Event
6 December	Dissolution of 3rd Parliament
13 December	Nomination Day
23 December	Polling Day
7 February 1977	Opening of 4th Parliament

Constituencies

Similar to previous elections, constituencies were either dissolved or created due to population. Six constituencies were abolished and ten new ones created, which were reflected on the table:

Constituency	Changes
New Constituencies
Ang Mo Kio	Carved from parts of Nee Soon, Serangoon Gardens and Thomson
Bedok	Carved from Siglap
Boon Lay	Carved from Jurong
Buona Vista	Carved from Ulu Pandan
Braddell Heights	Carved from Paya Lebar, Serangoon Gardens, Thomson and Upper Serangoon
Brickworks	Carved from Leng Kee and Pasir Panjang
Khe Bong	Carved from Kuo Chuan and Toa Payoh
Kolam Ayer	Carved from Geylang West, Kallang and Potong Pasir
Marine Parade	Carved from Joo Chiat
Radin Mas	Carved from Henderson and Telok Blangah
Defunct Constituencies
Bras Basah	Absorbed to Kampong Glam and Telok Ayer
Crawford	Absorbed to Jalan Besar and Kampong Glam
Hong Lim	Absorbed to Telok Ayer
Kampong Kapor	Absorbed to Jalan Besar
Sepoy Lines	Absorbed to Anson, Tanjong Pagar and Tiong Bahru
Stamford	Absorbed to River Valley and Telok Ayer

Campaign

A total of 124 candidates contested the election. The ruling PAP was the only party to contest every one of 69 constituencies, while the five other opposition parties (namely Barisan Sosialis, the Singapore Justice Party, PKMS, the United Front and the Workers' Party) formed a Joint Opposition Council to cooperate at the polls. The Workers' Party nominated 22 candidates and United Front 14; no other party put forward more than six candidates, while two candidates ran as independents.

The election marked their political debut of two prominent candidates, independent Chiam See Tong and PAP Goh Chok Tong, who would went on to become the then-longest-serving opposition MP and the second Prime Minister, respectively.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
People's Action Party	590,169	74.1	69	+4
Workers' Party	91,966	11.5	0	0
United Front	53,373	6.5	0	New
Barisan Sosialis	25,411	3.2	0	0
United People's Front	14,233	1.8	0	New
Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura	9,230	1.2	0	0
Singapore Justice Party	5,199	0.7	0	New
People's Front	2,818	0.3	0	0
Independents	4,173	0.5	0	0
Invalid/blank votes	18,558	–	–	–
Total	815,130	100	69	+4
Registered voters/turnout	857,297	95.1	–	–
Source: Singapore Elections