1977 Singaporean by-elections

1977 by-elections in Singapore

The by-election was held on 14 May and 23 July for Radin Mas and Bukit Merah constituencies respectively. The by-election were called following the deaths of its respective MPs Govindasamy Naidu and Lim Guan Hoo.

← 1970

14 May 1977 (Radin Mas)
23 July 1977 (Bukit Merah)

1979 →

2 seats to the Parliament of Singapore

Registered

35,412

Turnout

33,897 (95.72%)

1.27%

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Lee Kuan Yew	J. B. Jeyaretnam	Lee Siew Choh
Party	PAP	WP	BS
Seats won	2	0	0
Seat change
Popular vote	23,678	5,021	4,473
Percentage	71.38%	15.14%	13.48%
Swing	4.62%	2.69%	13.48%

MPs before election

N. Govindasamy Naidu
Lim Guan Hoo

PAP

Elected MPs

Bernard Chin Tien Lap
Lim Chee Onn

PAP

Background

On 13 February, Bukit Merah MP Lim Guan Hoo suffered compilations from stroke, and on the following day, N. Govindasamy Naidu died in office.

While there were plans for a multi-cornered contest, Workers' Party secretary-general J. B. Jeyaretnam stepped forward to contest the ward against its PAP candidate Bernard Chen Tien Lap, a former civil servant. An independent candidate attempted to contest but was disqualified for the absence in electoral register.

On 30 June, more than a month after the first by-election, Lim Guan Hoo died. Like its first by-election, negotiations for opposition party to contest the ward took place and to avoid a multi-cornered contest, this time being Lee Siew Choh of the Barisan Sosialis party. The PAP fielded civilist Lim Chee Oon to defend the seat.

Results

By-election, 14 May 1977: Radin Mas
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Bernard Chen Tien Lap	12,053	70.6	−5.1
	WP	J. B. Jeyaretnam	5,021	29.4	+5.1
Majority			7,032	41.2	−10.2
Turnout			17,415	94.6	−2.5
	PAP hold		Swing	-10.2

By-election, 23 July 1977: Bukit Merah
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Lim Chee Onn	11,625	72.2	−4.2
	BS	Lee Siew Choh	4,473	27.8	+27.8
Majority			7,152	44.4	−8.4
Turnout			16,482	97.0	+0.3
	PAP hold		Swing	-4.2

References

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

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