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2001 Singaporean general election

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Singaporean general election, 2001
← 1997 3 November 2001 2006 →
84 seats (only 29 seats contested) to the Parliament of Singapore
43 seats needed for a majority
1 NCMP seat offered
Turnout94.6%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Goh Chok Tong Chiam See Tong Low Thia Khiang
Party PAP SDA WP
Leader since 1992 2001 2001
Leader's seat Marine Parade GRC Potong Pasir SMC Hougang SMC
Last election 81 seats, 65.0% None 1 seat + 1 NCMP, 14.2%
Seats won 82 1 + 1 NCMP 1
Seat change Increase1 Increase1 Steady0
Popular vote 470,765 75,248 19,060
Percentage 75.3% 12.0%(total) / 27.6%(valid) 3.0%(total) / 39.3%(valid)
Swing Increase10.3% Increase12.0%/Increase27.6% Decrease11.2%/Increase1.7%
Results:
  People's Action Party
  Workers' Party of Singapore
  Singapore Democratic Alliance
Prime Minister before election

Goh Chok Tong
PAP

Elected Prime Minister

Goh Chok Tong
PAP

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The Singaporean parliamentary general elections of 2001 were held on 3 November. The People's Action Party, the incumbent ruling party, won 82 out of 84 seats in the election, including 55 walkovers. Due to the large number of uncontested seats, only 675,306 of the 2,036,923 eligible voters (33.2%) actually voted.

Background and issues

The ruling PAP was facing one of the toughest hurdles in its history. Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong originally intended for the election to take place in 2002, but in late 2001, Singapore was saddled with the worst economic crisis since independence, after the events of the 11 September attacks in the United States.

For the first time since 1963, a formal political umbrella emerged from within the opposition. The four-party Singapore Democratic Alliance was established with Chiam See Tong as chief, consisting of the Singapore People's Party he led, which was the leader party, National Solidarity Party (NSP), PKMS and Singapore Justice Party (SJP). NSP provided the bulk of nine candidates, SPP four and PKMS providing a required minority candidate.

Former WP Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam (J. B. Jeyaretnam), who lost his seat after being declared a bankrupt owing to lawsuits by PAP leaders, resigned from the party, citing disagreements with the present leadership. Sole WP MP Low Thia Khiang took over as secretary-general.

This election saw the end of four-member GRCs and a shortest campaigning period of 17 days after opening of the register of electors. A seat had been vacated in 1999 after the conviction of PAP MP Choo Wee Khiang over commercial crimes, but no by-election was held as the seat was within a GRC. Under the law, an entire electoral constituency, be it GRC or SMC, has to be vacated before a by-election is required.

Another increase of the election deposit amount this time was the most significant one in history, which almost doubled.

On nomination day, the sole WP GRC team was disqualified for filing incomplete papers in Aljunied Group Representation Constituency. Opposition parties ended up contesting only a-third of the seats, the lowest portion since 1968, which resulted in the largest number of walkovers for PAP in history.

WP's Low and SDA's Chiam retained their seats, but saw their winning margins slashed from the previous GE. With these two opposition wins, one NCMP seat was offered to and accepted by Steve Chia of SDA-NSP, who became the youngest and first ever non-WP NCMP.

Electoral boundaries

New MPs

Retiring MPs

  • Aline Wong, MP for Tampines GRC (Changkat); who is making way for the new MP, Ms Irene Ng and simplified the constituencies' names.
  • Bernard Chen Tien Lap, MP for West Coast GRC (Clementi)
  • Chng Hee Kok, MP for East Coast GRC (Fengshan)
  • Eugene Yap, MP for Marine Parade GRC (Mountbatten)
  • Goh Chee Wee, MP for Boon Lay SMC
  • Goh Choon Kang, MP for Marine Parade GRC (Braddell Heights)
  • Harun Abdul bin Ghani, MP for Hong Kah GRC (Hong Kah West)
  • Heng Chiang Meng, MP for Cheng San GRC (Jalan Kayu)
  • Ho Tat Kin, MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC (Bishan North)
  • Ibrahim Othman, MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC (Toa Payoh Central)
  • Kenneth Chen Koon Lap, MP for Hong Kah GRC (Hong Kah North)
  • Ker Sin Tze, MP for Aljunied GRC (Paya Lebar)
  • Lew Syn Pau, MP for Kreta Ayer-Tanglin GRC (Tanglin)
  • Ow Chin Hock, MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC (Leng Kee)
  • Peh Chin Hua, MP for Jalan Besar GRC (Geylang West)
  • Peter Chen, MP for Hong Kah GRC (Nanyang)
  • Richard Hu, MP for Kreta Ayer-Tanglin GRC (Kreta Ayer); he had announced his retirement from politics. He (originally) also planned to be in the Holland-Bukit Timah GRC team, however the idea was scrapped.
  • S Vasoo, MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC (Radin Mas)
  • Sidek bin Saniff, MP for Aljunied GRC (Eunos); and highlighted that the growing development of Sengkang and Punggol could have caused them.
  • Sinakruppan Ramasamy, MP for Kreta Ayer-Tanglin GRC (Moulmein)
  • Tang Guan Seng, MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC (Ang Mo Kio); and the GRC team merged with Cheng San and Jalan Kayu.
  • Toh See Kiat, MP for Aljunied GRC (Aljunied), and it is no longer effective.
  • Wan Soon Bee, MP for West Coast GRC (Pasir Panjang)

In addition, a lot of PAP branches began to close down. These include -

  • Geylang West was merged into Kolam Ayer in Jalan Besar GRC.
  • Leng Kee was merged into Queenstown in Tanjong Pagar GRC.
  • Pasir Panjang was merged into West Coast in West Coast GRC.

Election results

PAP won a landslide victory and its best result since 1980. The party achieved its third highest score among the general elections it has contested, since 1959. The PAP's vote percentage of 75.3% signalled an overwhelming endorsement of the PAP to lead the nation out of the crisis that came at a time of great uncertainty over world security and the recession that came after 11/9. This was also the last time Goh Chok Tong lead the party into a general election. Template:Singapore parliamentary election, 2001

See also

References

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