1997 Singaporean general election

Background

This election was Goh Chok Tong's opportunity as prime minister to secure a stronger mandate after the PAP's relatively weaker performance in 1991. Despite retaining a supermajority and continuing the de facto one party rule of Singapore following Lee Kuan Yew stepping down as prime minister and becoming a senior minister, the PAP's popular vote share had fallen to 61.0%, the lowest it had received since independence, while the opposition held four seats in the 8th Parliament. At dissolution, two seats in Eunos and Toa Payoh GRCs, both under the PAP, were vacated following the death of Tay Eng Soon and the resignation of former Deputy Prime Minister Ong Teng Cheong, who stepped down to contest in the 1993 Singaporean presidential election. Ong went on to win the presidency, becoming Singapore's first directly elected President of Singapore. Neither GRCs held by-elections. A third incumbent, Lim Chee Oon, retired from politics ahead of the Marine Parade by-election in 1992, where former Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) rear admiral Teo Chee Hean succeeded him.

Singapore Democratic Party infighting

In 1993 the largest opposition party, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), experienced a major internal conflict when party founder and Potong Pasir MP Chiam See Tong clashed with the party's Central Executive Committee (CEC), which included assistant Secretary-General Chee Soon Juan as well as chairman and Bukit Gombak MP Ling How Doong, over Chee's behaviour. The CEC supported Chee, and Chiam resigned from the Secretary-General post of his own party. He remained in the SDP for a time, successfully blocking an attempted expulsion by the CEC through a court case on procedural grounds, before resigning on his own accord in 1996 shortly before the general election to join the Singapore People's Party (SPP), a splinter group formed in 1994 by members of the SDP who backed him.

Shortly after taking control of the SDP as its Secretary-General, Chee traveled abroad to speak to foreign media, especially in Western countries, about what he saw as "limits to democracy" in Singapore. He also published his second book, Dare to Change: An Alternative Vision for Singapore, criticising the PAP government and its ministers. In response to criticisms of his book by then deputy prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, Chee wrote a letter to The Straits Times. Marine Parade GRC MP Matthias Yao replied, sparking a two-month exchange of letters in the newspaper that concluded with Chee challenging Yao to contest him in a SMC at the next general election. Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong agreed to separate Yao's MacPherson division from Marine Parade GRC at this general election so that he could accept the challenge.

Ultimately, although Chiam had initially invited Chee to the SDP, they clashed over personality and approach. He opposed Chee's confrontational style and harsh criticism of the PAP especially when done abroad, which he considered counterintuitive to the SDP's cause and opposition politics in general, particularly since Chee did not hold a seat in Parliament and voiced his criticisms from outside the House and the country.

Timeline

Nominations and campaigning

The 8th Parliament was dissolved on 16 December 1996, with nominations held a week later. At the close of nominations, 122 candidates were fielded, and the PAP secured a return to power for the second consecutive and third overall election in which a majority of seats were uncontested. In total, 47 seats went uncontested, including Tampines GRC, where the National Solidarity Party (NSP) team was disqualified after one candidate was found to have been struck off the electoral rolls for failing to vote in 1991.

Meanwhile, Chia Shi Teck became the first former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) to contest in general election, running as an independent candidate in a rare four cornered fight in Chua Chu Kang SMC. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), previously known as the Singapore United Front (SUF), was represented by a father and son duo consisting of Tan Soon Phuan and Tan Lead Shake, the latter of whom later joined the NSP.

Cheng San GRC controversy

During the campaigning period, Tang Liang Hong, who stood on the Workers' Party (WP) ticket alongside its Secretary-General J. B. Jeyaretnam in Cheng San GRC, came under heavy attack by the governing PAP. The PAP accused Tang of being an "anti-Christian Chinese chauvinist", which became a major controversy of the election and shaped much of the national debate during the campaign.

Electoral boundaries

Main article: List of Singaporean electoral divisions (1997–2001)

New six-member Group Representation Constituencies (GRC) were formed in the election, while six existing GRCs were absorbed into neighboring GRCs. Divisions of each constituencies which were either absorbed or carved out Single Member Constituencies (SMC), or creating smaller divisions, were reflected in the table:

New and retiring candidates

24 PAP candidates and 18 opposition candidates made their election debuts in this election, while 17 incumbent MPs retired prior to the polls. The lists are as follows:

Results

On Polling Day, several PAP ministers, including Goh Chok Tong, Tony Tan and Lee Hsien Loong, were present within the precinct of polling stations in Cheng San GRC even though they were not candidates in the constituency. The WP argued that this was a violation of the Parliamentary Elections Act, as unauthorised personnel are prohibited from polling stations under election law to prevent undue influence and harassment of voters and staff.

The voter turnout in contested constituencies was 95.91%, the highest recorded in Singapore's electoral history. Kampong Glam's PAP candidate Loh Meng See achieved the best result of the election with 74.52% of the valid votes. Only two candidates, Tan Soo Phuan of the DPP and Syed Farid Wajidi of the SPP, forfeited their election deposits. This election was also the last general election to feature a four-cornered contest in one of its constituencies until the 2025 election, not counting the 2011 Singaporean presidential election or the 2013 Punggol East by-election, which were also four-cornered contests.

By constituency

Aftermath

Cheng San GRC

After the election, the WP candidates at Cheng San GRC filed police reports against the PAP over the presence of PAP ministers within the precinct of polling stations in Cheng San GRC, citing the violation of two sections of the Parliamentary Elections Act:

• Section 82(1)(d): "No person shall wait outside any polling station on polling day, except for the purpose of gaining entry to the polling station to cast his vote".
• Section 82(1)(e): "No person shall loiter in any street or public place within a radius of 200 metres of any polling station on polling day."

Their complaints were not prosecuted by the police, on the advice of the Attorney-General (AG) Chan Sek Keong. Chan, in his letter to the Minister for Law S. Jayakumar, interpreted the statute as being "irrelevant to people" within the polling station, and that remaining within the polling station itself, as opposed to being within a perimeter of 200 meters from the external walls of the polling station, was not an offence. This reading was unconventional because it practically allowed people to stay inside the station, but deemed it an offence to be in the area within 200 metres outside its external walls.

He added that "the possibility of a person inside a polling station influencing or intimidating voters in the presence of the presiding officer and his officials, the polling agents etc was considered so remote that it was discounted by the Act." This logic was also unusual because it suggested that voters were safe from undue influence inside the polling station, yet could be affected simply by being within 200 metres outside.

The WP questioned whether the AG was suggesting that it was acceptable for people to enter and loiter on the grounds of the polling station rather than outside it, and subsequently renewed its call for the establishment of an independent election commission to ensure fair play in the conduct of elections in Singapore.

Tang Liang Hong's self-imposed exile

After the election, Tang Liang Hong was sued for defamation by several of the PAP's leaders, including then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, then-Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew and then-Deputy Prime Ministers Lee Hsien Loong and Tony Tan, who accused him of making statements during the campaign which falsely questioned their integrity. A total of 13 judgements were entered against Tang for defamation. Tang left Singapore shortly after the election and moved to Australia. He never returned to Singapore until his death in 2025.

Other constituencies

With upgrading schemes dangled as a pricy stake for voters living in public housing, the PAP reversed its electoral decline for the first time in four elections with a 4.01% increase in its vote share. This marked the first election since the 1963 general election in which the party managed to wrestle back opposition wards, regaining control of Bukit Gombak and Nee Soon Central, both of which had been captured in the previous election. Due to Chiam See Tong's defection to the SPP, the SDP failed to win any seats, ending its parliamentary presence that had lasted since 1984. The SDP has yet to return to Parliament since then.

The election saw two opposition MPs returned to the legislature, with Chiam representing the SPP and Low Thia Khiang the WP. In addition, one Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) seat was offered to the WP team in Cheng San GRC, which was the best performing losing opposition team with 45.2% of the vote. The WP accepted the offer and appointed its Secretary-General J. B. Jeyaretnam as NCMP, marking his return to Parliament for the first time since 1986.

In June 1997, when NMPs were appointed, the number of appointments was increased from six to nine. Later, on 6 September 1999, the 9th Parliament was relocated to the newly constructed Parliament House situated within the Civic District facing North Bridge Road. The former Parliament House was closed following the move and subsequently reopened on 26 March 2004 as The Arts House, repurposed as a venue for the arts and cultural events.

Notes

References

References

1. (1997). "The Price Of Victory: the 1997 Singapore general election and beyond". [[Institute of Southeast Asian Studies]].
2. (June 1999). "The Singapore general election 1997: campaigning strategy, results, and analysis". [[Electoral Studies]].
3. (1994). "Dare To Change: An Alternative Vision for Singapore". [[Singapore Democratic Party]].
4. "GE2025: SM Lee questions opposition parties' initial inaction on foreign interference". [[CNA (TV network).
5. (22 November 1996). "New Horizons". [[The Straits Times]].
6. (23 April 2025). "GE2025: Stage set for four-way fight in Tampines GRC; PAP and WP go head-to-head in Tampines Changkat SMC".
7. (7 January 1997). "WP lodges police complaint against ministers' presence". The Straits Times.
8. (31 July 1997). "Waiting, loitering in poll station not an offence: A-G". The Straits Times.
9. (21 July 1997). "Unauthorised persons inside polling stations: Attorney General's letter".
10. "written opinion - Presence of Unauthorised Persons Inside Polling Stations, Appendix (Cols. 1417 - 1424)".
11. (15 July 1997). "WP asks Public Prosecutor to explain stand on PAP men at polling station". The Straits Times.
12. (25 January 1997). "Tony Tan also suing Tang for defaming him in report". Singapore Press Holdings.
13. (9 March 1997). "Tang's case". Singapore Press Holdings.
14. "Former Workers' Party politician Tang Liang Hong dies aged 90". [[AsiaOne]].