The MacPherson Single Member Constituency was a single member constituency (SMC) located in the central area of

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 ...

. At abolition, it was managed by Marine Parade Town Council.

History

MacPherson Constituency was created for the 1968 general election. In

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

, the constituency was renamed MacPherson Single Member Constituency with the creation of

group representation constituencies 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 ...

(GRCs). MacPherson SMC would exist until

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, when it was merged to

Marine Parade GRC The Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency was a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) located in the Central Region, Singapore, central, East Region, Singapore, eastern and North-East Region, Singapore, north-eastern are ...

. It was reformed for the 1997 general election, with

Matthias Yao Matthias Yao Chih ( zh, s=姚智, p=Yáo Zhì, born 12 January 1956) is a Singaporean former politician. A former member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he was a Member of Parliament (MP) representing Marine Parade GRC between 199 ...

, the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for the MacPherson ward, winning 65.14% of the vote for the governing

People's Action Party The People's Action Party (PAP) is a major Conservatism, conservative political party in Singapore and is the governing contemporary political party represented in the Parliament of Singapore, followed by the opposition Workers' Party of Singap ...

(PAP). In

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, it was merged back to Marine Parade GRC and reformed for the 2015 general election after one term in the GRC. For the 2015 general election, the National Solidarity Party (NSP) initially planned to field a candidate against the PAP in MacPherson SMC, but decided to pull out of the contest when the

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) announced it had also planned to contest in the constituency. NSP later changed its mind and fielded

Steve Chia Steve Chia Kiah Hong ( zh, s=谢镜丰, p=Xiè Jìngfēng; born 3 November 1970) is a Singaporean politician. A member of the opposition Singapore People's Party (SPP), he has been the party's secretary-general since 2019. He was previously a ...

in the constituency, but Chia would later pull out of the contest citing online abuse over his participation. As a result, NSP fielded

Cheo Chai Chen Cheo Chai Chen ( zh, s=蒋才正, p=Jiǎng Cáizhèng, 1951 – 4 June 2024) was a Singaporean politician and businessman. A member of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), he served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nee Soon Central Sing ...

for the contest. NSP's Acting Secretary-General,

Hazel Poa Hazel Poa Koon Koon (; born 27 August 1970) is a Singaporean politician and businesswoman. A member of the opposition Progress Singapore Party (PSP), she served as a Non-Constituency Member of the 14th Parliament of Singapore from 24 August 20 ...

, resigned from the party, stating her disagreement with the decision of the party's Central Executive Committee (CEC) to contest in the SMC. During the election campaign, Cheo drew considerable criticism for telling reporters that PAP candidate

Tin Pei Ling Tin Pei Ling ( zh, s=陈佩玲, p=Chén Pèilíng; born 23 December 1983) is a Singaporean politician and businesswoman. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the MacPhe ...

's status as a new mother was "her weakness" and saying that she might spend more time focusing on her child than on her constituents. He later claimed that he was joking. Tin, the incumbent MP for the MacPherson ward, won the election with 65.6% of the vote, Bernard Chen from the WP took 33.6% and Cheo took just 0.8%. Cheo would forfeit his $14,500

election deposit In an electoral system, a deposit is the sum of money that a candidate for an elected office, such as a seat in a legislature, is required to pay to an electoral authority before they are permitted to stand for election. Typically, the deposit co ...

for not winning at least 12.5% of the vote. For the 2025 general election, the SMC was abolished and merged into

Marine Parade–Braddell Heights GRC Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine current power * Marine debris * Marine energy * Marine habitats * Mari ...

Members of Parliament

Electoral results

Elections in 1960s

Elections in 1970s

Elections in 1980s

Elections in 1990s

Elections in 2000s

Elections in 2010s

Elections in 2020s

References

2020 General Election's result
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macpherson Single Member Constituency 2015 establishments in Singapore Singaporean electoral divisions Geylang