2001 Singaporean general election
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
84 seats (only 29 seats contested) to the Parliament of Singapore 43 seats needed for a majority 1 NCMP seat offered | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turnout | 94.6% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Results: People's Action Party Workers' Party of Singapore Singapore Democratic Alliance | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
| This article is part of a series on |
 |
|---|
 Singapore portal |
General elections were held in Singapore on 3 November 2001. The ruling People's Action Party (PAP) won 82 of the 84 elected seats in Parliament, including 55 walkovers. Due to the large number of uncontested seats, only 675,306 of the 2,036,923 eligible voters (33.2%) had an opportunity to vote.
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, as was done during the Marine Parade GRC by-election of 1992.
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
| Constituency | Changes |
|---|---|
| Aljunied GRC | Absorbed the southern Punggol divisions from Cheng San GRC, and Lorong Halus area/PLAB from Pasir Ris GRC Kampong Kembangan division was split into Aljunied-Kembangan and Kembagan-Punggol divisions (the latter was absorbed with Punggol East from Cheng San GRC), while Punggol South division was renamed to Aljunied-Hougang Carved out Changi-Simei division to East Coast GRC and Aljunied division to Marine Parade GRC |
| Ang Mo Kio GRC | Ward upsized to six members Absorbed Cheng San and Jalan Kayu divisions from Cheng San GRC Ang Mo Kio division was absorbed into Yio Chu Kang and Teck Ghee divisions |
| Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC | No Change in Boundaries |
| East Coast GRC | Absorbed Changi-Simei division from Aljunied GRC Carved out Joo Chiat division into SMC |
| Holland-Bukit Panjang GRC | New Constituency Formed with Ulu Pandan, Bukit Panjang and Buona Vista divisions from Bukit Timah GRC, Sembawang GRC and Tanjong Pagar GRC, respectively Bukit Panjang divisions was split to include Cashew and Zhenghua divisions, while some of Zhenghua division was split from Tanglin division |
| Hong Kah GRC | Absorbed Bukit Gombak SMC, and a portion of Chua Chu Kang SMC (to form Keat Hong division) Carved out Hong Kah East division to Jurong GRC Hong Kah West was merged into Nanyang division |
| Jalan Besar GRC | Ward upsized to five members Absorbed Kampong Glam SMC, Kreta Ayer and Kim Seng divisions (which would merge into Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng division) from Kreta Ayer-Tanglin GRC Geylang West division was absorbed into Kolam Ayer and Jalan Besar divisions |
| Jurong GRC | New Constituency Formed from a majority of Bukit Timah GRC (except for Bukit Timah division, which carved into SMC), and Hong Kah East division from Hong Kah GRC Jurong division was split into Pioneer and Taman Jurong divisions, while Bukit Batok East division was formed from portions of Bukit Batok, Bukit Gombak & Bukit Timah divisions. |
| Marine Parade GRC | No Change in Boundaries |
| Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC | New Constituency Formed from Pasir Ris GRC (except for the Pasir Ris South division, which was under Tampines GRC) and northern Punggol divisions of Cheng San GRC (Punggol Central, North and South) |
| Sembawang GRC | Carved out Nee Soon East division into SMC, and Bukit Panjang division into Holland-Bukit Panjang GRC Sembawang and Woodlands division were split to include Canberra and Admiralty divisions respectively |
| Tampines GRC | Ward upsized to five members Absorbed Pasir Ris South division from Pasir Ris GRC (renamed to Tampines North) |
| Tanjong Pagar GRC | Absorbed Moulmein and Tanglin (renamed to Tanglin-Cairnhill) divisions from Kreta Ayer-Tanglin GRC Carved out Buona Vista division to Holland-Bukit Panjang GRC Leng Kee division was absorbed into Queenstown, Radin Mas and Tanglin-Cairnhill divisions |
| West Coast GRC | Ward upsized to five members Absorbed Boon Lay SMC and some of Bukit Timah GRC (Jurong, Joo Koon, Gul Circle and Tuas) Pasir Panjang division was dissolved into Telok Blangah and West Coast divisions. |
Outgoing/New MPs
New MPs
|
Retiring MPs
|
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 led the party into a general election.
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| People's Action Party | 470,765 | 75.3 | 82 | +1 |
| Singapore Democratic Alliance | 75,248 | 12.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Singapore Democratic Party | 50,607 | 8.1 | 0 | 0 |
| Workers' Party | 19,060 | 3.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Democratic Progressive Party | 5,334 | 0.9 | 0 | 0 |
| Independents | 4,253 | 0.7 | 0 | 0 |
| Invalid/blank votes | 13,636 | – | – | – |
| Total | 638,903 | 100 | 84 | +1 |
| Registered voters/turnout[a] | 675,306 | 94.6 | – | – |
| Source: Singapore Elections | ||||
- ^ Contested seats only; across all constituencies the number of registered voters was 2,036,923.
See also
References
- "Hsien Loong: Election soon". (8 November 2005). New Straits Times, p. 31.
External links
| General elections | |
|---|---|
| By-elections | |
| Presidential elections | |
| Local elections | |
| Referendums | |
‡ uncontested | |
