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1976 Singaporean general election

← 1972 23 December 1976 1980 →
← outgoing memberselected members →
All 69 seats in Parliament 35 seats needed for a majority
Registered	857,297
Turnout	95.08% ( 1.53pp)
First party   Leader Lee Kuan Yew Party PAP Last election 70.43%, 65 seats Seats won 69 Seat change 4 Popular vote 590,169 Percentage 74.09% Swing 3.66pp
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Lee Kuan Yew PAP Prime Minister after election Lee Kuan Yew PAP

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General elections were held in Singapore on 23 December 1976. The result was a victory for the People's Action Party, which won all 69 seats, the third of four consecutive elections in which they repeated the feat. Voter turnout was 95%, out of 857,297 voters eligible (from the total electorate of 1,095,817) from the 53 contested constituencies.

Electoral system

The 69 members of Parliament were elected from 69 single-member constituencies, an increase from 65 used for the previous elections in 1972. The deposit was increased for the first time to $1,200, up from $500.

Timeline

Constituencies

Similar to previous elections, constituencies were either dissolved or created due to population. Six constituencies were abolished and ten new ones created, which were reflected on the table:

Campaign

A total of 124 candidates contested the election. The ruling PAP was the only party to contest every one of 69 constituencies, while the five other opposition parties (namely Barisan Sosialis, the Singapore Justice Party, PKMS, the United Front and the Workers' Party) formed a Joint Opposition Council to cooperate at the polls. The Workers' Party nominated 22 candidates and United Front 14; no other party put forward more than six candidates, while two candidates ran as independents.

The election marked their political debut of two prominent candidates, independent Chiam See Tong and PAP Goh Chok Tong, who would become the then-longest-serving opposition MP and the second Prime Minister, respectively.

Results

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	People's Action Party	590,169	74.09	+3.66	69	+4
	Workers' Party	91,966	11.55	–0.65	0	0
	United Front	53,373	6.70	New	0	New
	Barisan Sosialis	25,411	3.19	–1.44	0	0
	United People's Front	14,233	1.79	New	0	New
	Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura	9,230	1.16	–0.19	0	0
	Singapore Justice Party	5,199	0.65	New	0	New
	People's Front	2,818	0.35	–2.66	0	0
	Independents	4,173	0.52	–0.48	0	0
Total		796,572	100.00	–	69	+4
Valid votes		796,572	97.72
Invalid/blank votes		18,558	2.28
Total votes		815,130	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,095,817	95.08
Source: Nohlen et al., Singapore Elections

By constituency

Notes

1. 238,520 of the 1,095,817 voters were registered in uncontested constituencies

References

1. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p254 ISBN 0-19-924959-8
2. ^ Parliamentary general election 1976 Singapore Elections
3. Parliamentary general election 1976: Seats Singapore Elections

v t e Elections and referendums in Singapore
General elections	1948 1951 1955 1959 1963 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1991 1997 2001 2006 2011 2015 2020 2025
By-elections	1948 1952 1957 1961 1965 1966 1967 1970 1977 1979 1981 1992 2012 2013 2016
Presidential elections	1993 1999‡ 2005‡ 2011 2017‡ 2023
Local elections	1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1949 (Apr) 1949 (Dec) 1950 1951 1952 1953 1957 1958
Referendums	1962
‡ uncontested

• General elections in Singapore
• 1976 in Singapore
• 1976 elections in Asia