A by-election for the

Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency The Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) located in the central, eastern and north-eastern areas of Singapore. The constituency consists of a section of Bedok, Chai Chee, Geylan ...

in Singapore was held on 19 December 1992. The

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 ...

(PAP) defeated 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 Nee ...

(SDP), the

Singapore Justice Party The Singapore Justice Party (abbreviation: SJP) is a political party in Singapore. Background The party has been based mostly in Marine Parade district of Singapore since the party has taken part in general elections after 1988 by fielding its c ...

(SJP) and the National Solidarity Party (NSP) with 72.9% of the valid votes. The team of candidates from the

(PAP) were subsequently declared as the MPs for

Marine Parade GRC The Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) located in the central, eastern and north-eastern areas of Singapore. The constituency consists of a section of Bedok, Chai Chee, Geylan ...

. This by-election also marked the first (and the sole instance as of 2022) time in the history of Singapore, where an incumbent

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

vacated his seat to face a by-election.(

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 ...

also vacated his seat in

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 ...

to face a by-election 35 years back, though he was

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

at the time).

Background

At the time of this by-election, both Deputy Prime Ministers,

Ong Teng Cheong Ong Teng Cheong ( zh, c=王鼎昌, p=Wáng Dǐngchāng; 22 January 1936 – 8 February 2002) was a Singaporean politician who served as the fifth president of Singapore between 1993 and 1999. He was also the first elected president in Singapor ...

and

Lee Hsien Loong Lee Hsien Loong (; born 10 February 1952) is a Singaporean politician and former brigadier-general who has been serving as Prime Minister of Singapore and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party since 2004. He has been the Member of Par ...

, were suffering from cancer. Goh decided to hold a by-election in a safe constituency with the best chances of winning for “political self-renewal” to get people of “ministerial calibre” to join the government under PAP. While Goh,

Othman bin Haron Eusofe Uthman ibn Affan ( ar, عثمان بن عفان, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; – 17 June 656), also spelled by Colloquial Arabic, Turkish and Persian rendering Osman, was a second cousin, son-in-law and notable companion of the Islamic prop ...

and

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 1991 ...

were running again in the same constituency, Lim Chee Onn was replaced with Teo Chee Hean, the former chief of the Singapore navy, for the by-election. At the 1991 general election, Goh promised to hold a by-election in 12 to 18 months’ time to allow

J. B. Jeyaretnam Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam ( ta, ஜோசுவா பெஞ்சமின் ஜெயரத்தினம்; 5 January 1926 – 30 September 2008), better known as J. B. Jeyaretnam or by his initials JBJ, was a Singaporean politician, law ...

, of the Workers’ Party, to contest a seat in parliament. Jeyaretnam was unable to contest in the 1991 general election due to a parliamentary ban which expired 2 months after the 1991 general election. The by-election took place 11 years after the previous one, which at the time was the longest interval between by-elections. This would be surpassed by the

2012 Hougang by-election A by-election for the Hougang Single Member Constituency in Singapore was held on 26 May 2012 with Png Eng Huat from the Worker's Party as the winning candidate. This followed due to the expulsion of Yaw Shin Leong from the Worker's Party on 15 ...

, that took place nearly two decades after this by-election.

Election deposit

The election deposit was set at $6000 per candidate. Similar to previous elections, the election deposit will be forfeited if the particular candidate had failed to secure at least 12.5% or one-eighth of the votes.

Results

References

{{Singapore elections

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

1992 elections in Asia 1992 in Singapore December 1992 events in Asia

Background

Election deposit

Results

See also

References