Anson Constituency was a constituency in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. It used to exist from 1959 to 1988. A huge portion was merged into

Tiong Bahru Group Representation Constituency The Tiong Bahru Group Representation Constituency (GRC) was a three-member group representation constituency in Singapore that existed from 1988 to 1991, consisting of the pre-GRC constituencies of Anson, Henderson, and Tiong Bahru. It was replace ...

while another small portion was merged into

Tanjong Pagar SMC Tanjong Pagar Single Member Constituency was a single member constituency (SMC) in Tanjong Pagar, Singapore. The constituency was formed in 1955 and was abolished in 1991. It was one of the longest-surviving constituencies since the pre-indepen ...

in 1988.

History

Anson Constituency was created in 1959. It was first won by the PAP However, David Marshall from the newly created

Worker's Party Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism, ...

would win it in the

1961 Singaporean by-elections Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United St ...

with 43% of the votes and represent Anson until his party lost in the

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 (MLAs) of the Legislative Assembly. The elections were the only ones to date with no boundary cha ...

. Between 1963 to 1981, Anson was largely uncontested with small minority parties contesting it time to time. In 1981, incumbent MP and NTUC Unionist,

Devan Nair Chengara Veetil Devan Nair (5 August 1923 – 6 December 2005), also known as C. V. Devan Nair, better known as Devan Nair, was a Singaporean politician and union leader who served as the third president of Singapore from 1981 until his resign ...

resigned from the PAP and the Parliament to accept the then largely ceremonial office of President as the country's

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

. This resulted in the third time Anson had a by-election. Nominations for the by-election started on 21 October. Three candidates were nominated for the by-election: PAP had Pang Kim Hin, the nephew of former minister

Lim Kim San Lim Kim San ( zh, c=林金山, p=Lín Jīnshān; 30 November 1916 – 20 July 2006) was a Singaporean businessman, civil servant, and politician who served as a Cabinet minister with a variety of portfolios between 1965 and 1981. Prior to his ...

;

Workers' Party Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...

(WP) secretary-general J.B. Jeyaretnam; and United People's Front Harbans Singh.

Chiam See Tong Chiam See Tong (; born 12 March 1935) is a Singaporean retired politician who served as the secretary-general of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) from 1980 to 1993 and as the secretary-general of the opposition Singapore People' ...

, who recently founded

Singapore Democratic Party The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) is a social liberal political party in Singapore. Founded in 1980 by Chiam See Tong, the party gained its first seat in 6th Parliament of Singapore, Parliament in 1984 Singaporean general election, 1984 when ...

(SDP) a year prior to the by-election, expressed interest but withdrew later and backed Jeyaretnam. The by-election was eventually won by Jeyaretnam of WP, breaking PAP's monopoly of full dominance in Parliament, the first time in Singapore since 1968 an opposition party had won a parliamentary seat. Between 1981 to 1984, Jeyaretnam was the only Opposition MP in Parliament. He will go on to be MP for Anson and also win with increased votes in the

1984 Singaporean general election Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southe ...

along with SDP's Chiam See Tong in

Potong Pasir SMC The Potong Pasir Single Member Constituency is a Single Member Constituency (SMC) in the central region of Singapore. It is managed by Jalan Besar Town Council. The current Member of Parliament of the constituency is People's Action Party (PA ...

. However, Jeyaretnam will only serve as MP for Anson for only 5 years until 1986 when he had to vacate his seat due to pressed charges. After he served his sentencing, he was barred and not allowed to return to his seat. No By-Elections were called for the vacated seat for 2 years and no one represented Anson between 1986 and 1988. In 1988, the constituency was dissolved following the establishment of

Group representation constituency A group representation constituency (GRC) is a type of electoral division or constituency in Singapore in which teams of candidates, instead of individual candidates, compete to be elected into Parliament as the Members of Parliament (MPs) for th ...

(GRC) and

Single Member Constituency A single-member district or constituency is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. In some countries, such as Australia and India ...

(SMC).

Member of Parliament

Electoral results

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1980s

References

{{Constituencies of Singapore Singaporean electoral divisions Tanjong Pagar Constituencies established in 1959 Constituencies disestablished in 1988 1959 establishments in Singapore 1988 disestablishments in Singapore