Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
on 2 April 1955 to elect members to the 25 elected seats in the Legislative Assembly. Nomination day was on 28 February 1955.
Background
Following the promulgation of the
Rendel Constitution
The Constitution of the Republic of Singapore is the supreme law of Singapore. A written constitution, the text which took effect on 9 August 1965 is derived from the Constitution of the State of Singapore 1963, provisions of the Federal Const ...
, the 1955 elections were the first occasion on which a majority of the seats were to be elected rather than be appointed by the colonial authorities. The new constitution was written after recommendations by a committee to grant local citizens more autonomy, headed by George Rendel, were passed.
According to the new Constitution, locals would share executive power with the colonial authorities and there would be a Chief Minister among elected legislators. The number of elected seats was increased to 25, with the British government appointing the remaining seven members. For the first time, political parties were permitted to adopt a standard party symbol for all their candidates and independents to select theirs instead of balloting for them.
The Governor of Singapore and Colonial Secretary posts were replaced by a Chief Secretary, who inherited the power to appoint four nominated Assembly Members. Also scrapped were the seats of the Solicitor-General, two directors, two ex officios, the three commercial organisations and the City Council representative.
Timeline
Changes in electoral boundaries
Results
Much to the surprise for British, who had anticipated a Progressive victory and its leader,
Tan Chye Cheng
Tan Chye Cheng (; 1911 – 6 March 1991), also known as C. C. Tan, was a Singaporean lawyer and politician.
Biography
Born in Singapore, Tan was the only child of Tan Guan Chua, a member of the Chinese Advisory Board and the Singapore Chinese C ...
, to emerge as Chief Minister, it was the Labour Front that garnered the most seats and its chairman, David Marshall, thus became Singapore's first Chief Minister. Both losing and winning parties were shocked by the results. Labour Front formed a government with support of the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA), UMNO and the Malay Union.
In its first elections, the newly formed
People's Action Party
The People's Action Party (abbreviation: PAP) is a major conservative centre-right political party in Singapore and is one of the three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament, alongside the opposition Workers' Party (WP) and ...
, led by lawyer and former Progressive Party election agent Lee Kuan Yew, chose to field only a handful of candidates to protest against the Rendel Constitution. As independent member Ahmad Ibrahim joined PAP following the election, PAP had 4 members in the Assembly and thus Lee became the new Leader of the Opposition.
The election saw the electorate multiply 6 folds. Voter turnout barely increased by 0.61% to 52.66%. 6 of the 25 constituencies saw voter turnout less than 50%. The lowest was that of Geylang which saw only 40.84% turning up to vote. This surpassed the City Constituency's 43.93% turnout in
1951
Events
January
* January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950).
* January 9 – The Government of the United ...
and with compulsory voting introduced in the next 1959 General Election, this was the lowest turnout in a constituency in the non-compulsory voting period (1948-1959). The constituency with the highest voter turnout was that of
Southern Islands
The Southern Islands is a planning area consisting of a collection of islets located within the Central Region of Singapore, once home to the native Malay islanders and sea nomads before they were relocated to the mainland for urban redevelopm ...
at 69.79%. The election's best performing candidate was
Labour Front
The Labour Front is a defunct political party in Singapore that operated from 1955 to 1960.
History
The Labour Front was founded to contest the 1955 legislative elections by David Saul Marshall, Singapore's first chief minister and Lim Yew Ho ...
candidate and Future Chief Minister
Lim Yew Hock
Lim Yew Hock ( zh, c=林有福, p=Lín Yǒufú; 15 October 1914 – 30 November 1984) was a MalaysianFarrer Park
Farrer Park is a subzone of the Rochor planning area in the Central Region of Singapore, bounded by Serangoon Road, Rangoon Road, Race Course Road, Northumberland Road, Tekka Lane and Bukit Timah Road.
This article is about the Farrer Park ...
David Saul Marshall
David Saul Marshall (12 March 1908 – 12 December 1995), born David Saul Mashal, was a Singaporean lawyer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Singapore from 1955 until his resignation in 1956, after his delegation to London regarding ...
won his
Cairnhill
The Cairnhill () is a private housing estate in Tsuen Wan, New Territories, Hong Kong. Being one of the estates built on many d level
of the hill of Route Twisk (Another one is The Cliveden), it consists of 16 low-density blocks divided into ...
constituency with 47.58% of the votes. Future
Prime Minister of Singapore
The prime minister of Singapore is the head of government of the Republic of Singapore. The president appoints the prime minister, a Member of Parliament (MP) who in their opinion, is most likely to command the confidence of the majority of ...
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew (16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), born Harry Lee Kuan Yew, often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean lawyer and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1990, and Secretary-General o ...
won his
Tanjong Pagar
Tanjong Pagar ( alternatively spelled ''Tanjung Pagar'') is a historic district located within the Central Business District in Singapore, straddling the Outram Planning Area and the Downtown Core under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's urb ...
constituency with 78.33% over his two rival candidates making it the second best performance after Lim Yew Hock. Ironically, PP leader
Tan Chye Cheng
Tan Chye Cheng (; 1911 – 6 March 1991), also known as C. C. Tan, was a Singaporean lawyer and politician.
Biography
Born in Singapore, Tan was the only child of Tan Guan Chua, a member of the Chinese Advisory Board and the Singapore Chinese C ...
was defeated in Cairnhill by David Marshall and polled just 36.42%. 10 candidates lost their $500 election deposits.
Future
Chief Minister of Singapore
The chief minister of Singapore was the head of government of the Colony of Singapore until its abolition on 3 June 1959. It was replaced by the office of Prime Minister. The chief minister was appointed by the governor of Singapore. The chief mi ...
Lim Yew Hock
Lim Yew Hock ( zh, c=林有福, p=Lín Yǒufú; 15 October 1914 – 30 November 1984) was a MalaysianMalay Union
The Malay Union ( ms, Kesatuan Melayu) was a political party in Singapore.
History
The party was established on 14 May 1926 as a religious and cultural organisations for the Malay community.Sir William Goode (the
Chief Secretary of Singapore
The chief secretary of Singapore, known as the colonial secretary of Singapore before 1955, and the colonial secretary of the Straits Settlements before 1946, was a high ranking government official position in the Straits Settlements before 1946 a ...
Attorney-General of Singapore
The attorney-general of Singapore is the public prosecutor of Singapore, and legal adviser to the Government of Singapore. The functions of the attorney-general are carried out with the assistance of the deputy attorney-general and the solicito ...
) and Thomas Mure Hart, the Finance Secretary of Singapore.
4 members were nominated out of which 2 were from the
Labour Front
The Labour Front is a defunct political party in Singapore that operated from 1955 to 1960.
History
The Labour Front was founded to contest the 1955 legislative elections by David Saul Marshall, Singapore's first chief minister and Lim Yew Ho ...
and 2 Independents. This gave the LF 12 seats. The Labour Front formed a Coalition Government with
UMNO
The United Malays National Organisation ( Malay: ; Jawi: ; abbreviated UMNO () or less commonly PEKEMBAR), is a nationalist right-wing political party in Malaysia. As the oldest continuous national political party within Malaysia (since its ...
and MCA each having 1 seat. The LF-UMNO-MCA Coalition had 14 seats and with British support (3 ''ex-officio'' members) had 17 seats just enough for a majority in the 32-seat Assembly. On 6 April 1955, David Marshall was sworn in as the First Chief Minister of Singapore making him also the First Head of Government in the country.
As of 2021, this election remains the only election to have produced a minority government and a hung legislature. It also remains the only election to have produced a Non- PAP Government in the history of Singapore.
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...