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1991 Singaporean general election

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All 81 directly elected seats in Parliament (and up to 3 NCMPs)
Registered	847,716 / 1,692,384
Turnout	95.03% ( 0.33pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Goh Chok Tong Chiam See Tong J. B. Jeyaretnam Party PAP SDP WP Last election 63.17%, 80 seats 11.80%, 1 seat 16.72%, 1 seat Seats won 77 3 1 Seat change 3 2 Popular vote 477,760 93,856 112,010 Percentage 60.97% 11.98% 14.29% Swing 2.20pp 0.18pp 2.43pp
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Goh Chok Tong PAP Prime Minister after election Goh Chok Tong PAP

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v t e

General elections were held in Singapore on 31 August 1991. President Wee Kim Wee dissolved parliament on 14 August 1991 on the advice of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong.

The result was a victory for the People's Action Party, which won 77 of the 81 seats while the opposition won four. The Worker's Party won Hougang SMC and the Singapore Democratic Party retained Potong Pasir SMC and won Nee Soon Central SMC and Bukit Gombak SMC. This marked the largest representation for opposition parties in Parliament since independence, and was the first time an opposition party won multiple SMCs.

Voter turnout was 95%, although this figure represented the turnout in the 25 constituencies to be contested, with PAP candidates earning walkovers in the other 41; this was the second general election, after the 1968, where PAP returned to power on nomination day due to a majority of walkovers; a collaborative effort amongst all the opposition parties headed by Chiam See Tong decided to not contest all seats, so as to reassure voters to vote in ease for the opposition, known as a "by-election effect". This was to date, the only election, where no Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) seats were offered, as the four seats won by the opposition is more than the minimum number of opposition MPs in Parliament at three.

Background

This was the inaugural election for Prime Minister and current PAP secretary-general Goh Chok Tong after then-Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew stepped down on 28 November 1990. Goh decided to call a snap election merely three years after the last election to court a fresh mandate, setting Parliament's shortest term ever.

An unprecedented four seats were won by the opposition, the biggest number since the 1963 election, and its share of votes fell for the third consecutive time since 1984, down to then-lowest share of 61.0%. The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) had eight out of nine candidates came in among the top ten opposition candidates, with the party added two more spoils to the seat as well as retaining Potong Pasir SMC by leader Chiam See Tong in a record-69.6% vote, clocking in then the best performance for an opposition party at 48.55% of the votes and becoming the main opposition party in Parliament. The Workers' Party (WP) made its second in-road into the legislature with the victory of its organizing secretary Low Thia Khiang (who previously contested Tiong Bahru GRC in the last election and Hougang SMC on this election), who would years later become WP secretary-general and leader (2001-2018). All three incumbents who were defeated in the election were one-term MPs including Seet Ai Mee, Ng Pock Too and Tang Guan Seng; only Tang returned to the 1997 election as a member in Ang Mo Kio GRC.

At a post-election press conference on the night of 31 August, Goh glumly attributed the loss to his "open and consultative style of government" and pledged to re-evaluate his style. Since the introduction of the Non-Constituency Member of Parliament scheme in 1984, this was the first (and to date the only) election no NCMP seats were offered since four elected opposition seats exceeded the minimum of three NCMP seats allotted; this led to the eventual retirement of Lee Siew Choh in 1993, despite his team of Eunos GRC were narrowly defeated by an inferior margin.

During the time where Ong Teng Cheong and Lee Hsien Loong were suffering from cancer, Goh went to call an by-election for his constituency (Marine Parade GRC), citing its best chances of winning for "political self-renewal" to get people of "ministerial calibre" to join the government under PAP, and paving the chance for J. B. Jeyaretnam to participate in the by-election after his ban expiring that year.

Timeline

Electoral boundaries

Existing GRCs

Another group of changes were necessary as it increased from three seats to four. Some of them are in the basis of expansion due to the fast growth of towns. The newer divisions are those because of developments of Simei, Jurong West, Bishan and Pasir Ris respectively. Many existing Single Member Constituencies were either remain intact or absorbed to GRCs, though existing GRCs have also created newer divisions.

New and retiring candidates

Results

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	People's Action Party	477,760	60.97	–2.20	77	–3
	Workers' Party	112,010	14.29	+0.18	1	+1
	Singapore Democratic Party	93,856	11.98	–2.43	3	+2
	National Solidarity Party	57,306	7.31	+3.55	0	0
	Singapore Justice Party	15,222	1.94	+0.85	0	0
	Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura	12,862	1.64	+0.63	0	0
	Independents	14,596	1.86	+0.72	0	0
Total		783,612	100.00	–	81	0
Valid votes		783,612	97.27
Invalid/blank votes		21,961	2.73
Total votes		805,573	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,692,384	95.03
Source: Nohlen et al., Singapore Elections

By constituency

A total of five candidates (one from the PKMS party) forfeited their deposit. The narrowest margin in the election was Nee Soon Central with SDP's Cheo Chai Chen defeating Ng Pock Too at a 0.66% margin. Buona Vista's Peter Sung had the best result of this election at 79.42%; Potong Pasir SDP candidate's Chiam See Tong's result of 69.64% was to date, the best-performing result for any opposition party in post-independence Singapore (subsequently, PAP's Andy Gan's 30.36% was also, to date, the worst-performing result for any PAP candidate as well). This was also the last election to date to see walkovers on Single Member Constituencies.

Notes

1. The record has since superseded by the Workers' Party in the 2020 elections with 50.49% of the votes.
2. 844,668 of the 1,692,384 voters were registered in uncontested constituencies.

References

1. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p255 ISBN 0-19-924959-8

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

• 1991 elections in Asia
• General elections in Singapore
• 1991 in Singapore
• August 1991 events in Asia