Singaporean by-elections, 1979

The by-election was held on 10 February 1979 while the nomination day was held on 31 January 1979.

For the Anson Single Member Constituency (SMC), People's Action Party (PAP) candidate Devan Nair defeated Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Johnny Wee Lai Deng with 86.2% of valid votes. Devan Nair was declared to be the MP for Anson SMC.

For the Mountbatten SMC, People's Action Party (PAP) candidate Eugene Yap Giau Cheng defeated Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Seow Khee Leng with 79.9% of valid votes. Eugene Yap Giau Cheng was declared to be the MP for Mountbatten SMC.

For Potong Pasir SMC, PAP candidate Howe Yoon Chong defeated Independent candidate Chiam See Tong with 66.8% of valid votes. Howe Yoon Chong was declared to be the MP for Potong Pasir SMC.

For Sembawang SMC, PAP candidate Tony Tan Keng Yam defeated United People's Front (UPF) candidate Harbans Singh with 78.4% of valid votes. Tony Tan Keng Yam was declared to be the MP for Sembawang SMC.

For Telok Blangah SMC, PAP candidate Rohan bin Kamis defeated Worker's Party (WP) candidate Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam with 61.2% of valid votes. Rohan bin Kamis was declared to be the MP for Telok Blangah SMC.

For Nee Soon SMC, PAP candidate Koh Lip Lin was declared to be the MP for Nee Soon SMC due to Uncontested walkover.

For Geylang West SMC, PAP candidate Teh Cheang Wan was declared to be the incumbent MP for Geylang West SMC due to Uncontested walkover.

With 80,075 registered voters, this remains the largest by-election to have ever taken place in Singapore. This even surpassed the 1992 by-election which had 73,986 registered voters.

Background

Similar to 1970 by election, as part of the People's Action Party continuous initiative to renew its ranks, the PAP had invited six instead of five veteran PAP Ministers and Members of Parliament (MPs) to resign. Also, with the demise of Anson's MP P. Govindaswamy, the 1979 by-election is regarded as the biggest-ever by-election in Singapore's history where there are seven seats namely Anson, Geylang West, Mountbatten, Nee Soon, Potong Pasir, Sembawang and Telok Blangah up for grabs. This by-election also sees the introduction of two prominent candidates: the first was Tony Tan Keng Yam, who would be assumed the role of the Cabinet Minister after the by-election victory in Sembawang, and later went on to become the 7th Deputy Prime Minister from 1995, and the 7th President of Singapore from 2011; the second was Chiam See Tong, who made his debut on Potong Pasir would later be elected for that area on his third attempt in the 1984 General elections with his second attempt made on the next year's general election.

Since this is the biggest ever by election in Singapore's history, therefore key opposition stalwarts emerged to contest with the exception of Barisan Sosialis which was then criticised by United People's Front (Singapore) and left the only two constituencies out of seven, namely Nee Soon and Geylang West to be uncontested.

Election deposit

The election deposit was set at $1200. 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

Background of 1979 By election

{{Singapore elections
1979
Singapore
By-elections
Singaporean by-elections