1963 Singaporean general election

General elections were held in Singapore on 21 September 1963, five days after Singapore became part of Malaysia. Voters elected all 51 members of the Legislative Assembly. The elections were the only ones to date with no boundary changes to any existing constituencies prior to the elections. The result was a victory for the People's Action Party (PAP), which won 37 of the 51 seats, while the majority of the remaining seats were won by Barisan Sosialis (BS).

1963 Singaporean general election

21 September 1963

All 51 seats in the Legislative Assembly
26 seats needed for a majority
Registered617,750
Turnout95.11% ( 5.04pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Lee Kuan Yew Lee Siew Choh Ong Eng Guan
Party PAP BS UPP
Last election 54.08%, 43 seats
Seats won 37 13 1
Seat change 6 New New
Popular vote 272,924 193,301 48,785
Percentage 46.93% 33.24% 8.39%
Swing 7.15pp New New

Results by constituency

Prime Minister before election

Lee Kuan Yew
PAP

Prime Minister after election

Lee Kuan Yew
PAP

The ruling party of Malaysia, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), contested the elections as part of the Singapore Alliance Party (SAP) in an attempt to oust the PAP, violating a previous agreement not to do so and straining relations between the two parties. The Alliance lost all seven seats which it held prior to the elections. Their participation in the elections prompted the PAP to contest seats in Peninsula Malaysia in the next federal election held in 1964, further adding to more tension between the two ruling parties.

As Singapore would gain independence in 1965, the elections were the only ones held as a state of Malaysia. After independence, the elected members of the Legislative Assembly would then become Members of the inaugural Parliament of Singapore.

A total of 210 candidates contested the elections – making it the largest slate of candidates to contest ever in Singapore's history. The ruling PAP – 51 candidates, its breakaway parties BS – 46 candidates and UPP – 46 candidates and the Alliance, the Singapore branch of the Malaysian federal ruling coalition – 42 candidates all vied to form the next government. This also marked the last time that any other party than the PAP would field candidates in more than half the total parliamentary seats. With two breakaway factions of the PAP fielding nearly full slate of candidates, this was the most hard fought election in Singapore's history and particularly for the ruling PAP.

The elections would be the last until 2015 in which all seats were contested. Further, the 1963 election would also be the last time (until 2020) where the ruling PAP would lose the popular vote in areas contested by the opposition and the only election in Singapore's history where the PAP would poll less than 50% of the nationwide popular vote.

With PAP winning a near three-quarters majority with just under 47% of the national vote, this is the lowest ever super-majority government formed to date in Singapore's history.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.