General elections were held in
Singapore on 3 September 1988.
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Wee Kim Wee dissolved parliament on 17 August 1988 on the advice of
Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The result was a victory for the
People's Action Party, which won 80 of the 81 seats.
Though the total eligible voter population surpassed 1 million in
1976
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...
, this was the first time that the total eligible voter population in contested seats and voter turnout exceeded 1 million. This feat will not be repeated again until
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 FIFA ...
or 18 years later.
Overview
Group Representation Constituencies were introduced in this general election to ensure ethnic minority representation in Parliament, starting with three member constituencies. This was the last time Prime Minister
Lee Kuan Yew led the PAP in an election and another two stalwarts, former Deputy Prime Minister Dr
Toh Chin Chye
Toh Chin Chye ( zh, s=杜进才, p=Dù Jìncái; 10 December 1921 – 3 February 2012) was a Singaporean politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1968. Toh is widely recognised as one of the founding fa ...
and Senior Minister
S. Rajaratnam
Sinnathamby Rajaratnam ( ta, சின்னத்தம்பி ராஜரத்னம்; 25 February 1915 – 22 February 2006), better known as S. Rajaratnam, was a Singaporean politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Singapo ...
, retired for the PAP's renewal process.
This was also the first election where changes to electoral boundaries were approved by the Prime Minister's Office instead of tabling a bill
in Parliament to approve changes.
Two seats were vacated in 1986 but neither held its by-elections -
Workers' Party (WP) Member of Parliament and leader
J. B. Jeyaretnam (of Anson) and PAP incumbent
Teh Cheang Wan
Teh Cheang Wan ( zh, s=郑章远, p=Zhèng Zhāngyuǎn; 3 March 1928 – 14 December 1986) was a Singaporean architect and politician who was a member of the governing People's Action Party. He was in charge of the Housing Development Board as ...
(of Geylang West), vacated its seats due to conviction over falsified party accounts, and
suicide over investigations for corruption, respectively.
WP absorbed the two parties,
Barisan Sosialis
Barisan Sosialis ( eng, Socialist Front) was a political party in Singapore. It was formed on 29 July 1961 and officially registered on 13 August 1961 by left-wing members of the People's Action Party (PAP) who had been expelled from the PAP. ...
(BS) and Singapore United Front to become the largest opposition party and also allied with the Malay party
PKMS as one faction. The election also saw the debut of WP candidate
Low Thia Khiang
Low Thia Khiang (; born 5 September 1956) is a Singaporean former politician who served as Secretary-General of the Workers' Party (WP) between 2001 and 2018. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hougang SMC between 1991 and 2011 and Aljuni ...
in
Tiong Bahru Group Representation Constituency
Tiong Bahru GRC was a defunct three-member group representation constituency that from 1988 to 1991, comprised Henderson, Radin Mas, and Tiong Bahru, in Singapore. Once it is dissolved, it was quickly replaced by Tanjong Pagar GRC
The Tanjong ...
. While Low failed to capture a seat on his first outing, he would later go on to win
Hougang Single Member Constituency in the next election and become the party's secretary-general as well as one of the longest-serving
opposition leaders
Opposition may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars
* The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band
* '' The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Com ...
until 2020.
With the
Singapore Democratic Party
The Singapore Democratic Party (abbreviation: SDP) is a politcal party in Singapore.
The party was founded on 6 August 1980 by Chiam See Tong. During the 1991 general election, Ling How Doong and Cheo Chai Chen won Bukit Gombak SMC and Ne ...
leader's
Chiam See Tong
Chiam See Tong (; born 12 March 1935) is a Singaporean retired politician and lawyer who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Potong Pasir SMC between 1984 and 2011. He was one of the two opposition MPs in Parliament.
Lawyer by profes ...
sole victory in the seat of
Potong Pasir
Potong Pasir is a housing estate located between Toa Payoh and Sennett Estate in the Central Region of Singapore. For urban planning purposes, it is classified under the Toa Payoh area.
Politically, Potong Pasir had been the longest-held oppos ...
, two Non-Constituency MP seats were offered to former solicitor-general and Law Society president,
Francis Seow
Francis Seow, born Seow Tiang Siew ( zh, s=萧添寿, p=Xiāo Tiānshòu; 11 October 1928 – 21 January 2016), was a Singaporean lawyer who was Solicitor-General of Singapore and later the President of the Law Society of Singapore.
Seow started ...
and veteran politician Dr
Lee Siew Choh
Lee Siew Choh (; 1 November 1917 – 18 July 2002) was a Singaporean politician and physician. He was the Member of Parliament for Queenstown from 1959 to 1963 and served as the NCMP from September 1988 to August 1991.
Initially a member of ...
, both of which were standing under the WP ticket in
Eunos Group Representation Constituency
Eunos Group Representation Constituency ( Simplified Chinese: 友诺士集选区;Traditional Chinese: 友諾士集選區) is a defunct Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the north-eastern region of Singapore. This GRC existed for the 1988 ...
; their campaign was notable for criticizing PAP for alleged dubious financial circumstances; in response Minister of State
Tay Eng Soon
Tay Eng Soon (; 20 January 1940 – 5 August 1993) was a Singaporean politician.
Education
Tay was educated at the Anglo-Chinese School for his primary and secondary education. He was the top student for both schools. He obtained first class ...
went to lead their PAP team for Eunos. Despite losing by a narrow margin of 49.1%-50.9%, WP were eligible for the NCMP; however, Seow fled the country on 17 December to avoid arrest and was disqualified from the post while Lee took up the offer and became Singapore's first NCMP, marking Lee's return to Parliament after 25 years since his last stint as a PAP and BS legislator. Once again, there was a significant increase of election deposit.
In November 1990, two years after the election, the Nominated MP scheme was implemented to introduce non-partisan voices into the legislature. Although the law allowed up to six NMPs, two were appointed at the start and served for a year before the Parliament term ended.
Timeline
Electoral boundaries
1988 was the first election in Singapore's history to introduce the
Group Representation Constituency (GRC) scheme, which were formed with series of three (later elections increases up to six) constituencies/divisions with at least one minority member representing to ensure ethnic minority representation in Parliament, thus cumulating the effects with
Plurality-at-large voting. Additionally, single member constituencies (SMC) were either formed from or absorbed to neighboring constituencies due to development and electorate, which was shown in the table below:
New candidates
*
A Nasser Kamaruddin
*
Chay Wai Chuen
Chay Wai Chuen ( zh, s=谢惠泉, p=Xiè Huìquán; born 5 March 1950) is a Singaporean diplomat and former politician.Charles Chong
Charles Chong You Fook ( zh, s=张有福, p=Zhāng Yǒufú; born 24 June 1953) is a Singaporean former politician who served as Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore between 2011 and 2020. He served as Acting Speaker of the Parliament o ...
*
Choo Wee Khiang
Choo Wee Khiang ( zh, s=朱为强, p=Zhū Wéiqiáng) is a Singaporean former politician. A former member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he was the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Whampoa division of Jalan Besar GRC betw ...
*
Davinder Singh
*
George Yeo Yong-Boon
*
Hong Hai
*
John Chen Seow Phun
*
K Shanmugam
Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam ( ta, காசிவிஸ்வநாதன் சண்முகம்; born 26 March 1959), better known as K. Shanmugam, is a Singaporean politician and lawyer who has been serving as Minister for Law since 2008 ...
*
Lew Syn Pau
*
Loh Meng See Loh may refer to:
People
* Betty Loh Ti (1937–1968), Chinese actress
* Christine Loh Kung-wai, Hong Kong university professor
* John M. Loh (born 1938), USAF Chief of Staff
* Loh Boon Siew (1915–1995), Penangite businessman
* Loh (Ramayana ...
*
Low Seow Chay
Low or LOW or lows, may refer to:
People
* Low (surname), listing people surnamed Low
Places
* Low, Quebec, Canada
* Low, Utah, United States
* Lo Wu station (MTR code LOW), Hong Kong; a rail station
* Salzburg Airport (ICAO airport code: LO ...
*
Mah Bow Tan
Mah Bow Tan ( zh, s=马宝山, p=Mǎ Bǎoshān; born 12 September 1948) is a Singaporean former politician who served as Leader of the House between 2007 and 2011, Minister for National Development between 1999 and 2011, Minister for the Envir ...
*
Ong Chit Chung
*
Peh Chin Hua
Peh Chin Hua (; born 1947) is a former Singaporean politician. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Jalan Besar GRC from 1988 to 2001. He retired from politics in 2001.
Political ca ...
*
Peter Sung
*
Seet Ai Mee
Retiring candidates
Results
By constituency
Notes
References
{{Singaporean elections
Singapore
General elections in Singapore
1988 in Singapore