Singaporean general election, 2001

Singaporean general election, 2001

3 November 2001
84 seats (only 29 seats contested) to the Parliament of Singapore 43 seats needed for a majority 1 NCMP seat offered
Turnout	94.6%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Goh Chok Tong Chiam See Tong Low Thia Khiang Party PAP SDA WP Leader since 1992 2001 2001 Leader's seat Marine Parade GRC Potong Pasir SMC Hougang SMC Last election 81 seats, 65.0% None 1 seat + 1 NCMP, 14.2% Seats won 82 1 + 1 NCMP 1 Seat change 1 1 0 Popular vote 470,765 75,248 19,060 Percentage 75.3% 12.0%(total) / 27.6%(valid) 3.0%(total) / 39.3%(valid) Swing 10.3% 12.0%/27.6% 11.2%/1.7%
Results:   People's Action Party   Workers' Party of Singapore   Singapore Democratic Alliance
Prime Minister before election Goh Chok Tong PAP Elected Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong PAP

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General elections were held in Singapore on 3 November 2001. The ruling People's Action Party (PAP) won 82 of the 84 elected seats in Parliament, including 55 walkovers. Due to the large number of uncontested seats, only 675,306 of the 2,036,923 eligible voters (33.2%) had an opportunity to vote.

Background and issues

The ruling PAP was facing one of the toughest hurdles in its history. Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong originally intended for the election to take place in 2002, but in late 2001, Singapore was saddled with the worst economic crisis since independence, after the events of the 11 September attacks in the United States.

For the first time since 1963, a formal political umbrella emerged from within the opposition. The four-party Singapore Democratic Alliance was established with Chiam See Tong as chief, consisting of the Singapore People's Party he led, which was the leader party, National Solidarity Party (NSP), PKMS and Singapore Justice Party (SJP). NSP provided the bulk of nine candidates, SPP four and PKMS providing a required minority candidate.

Former WP Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam (J. B. Jeyaretnam), who lost his seat after being declared a bankrupt owing to lawsuits by PAP leaders, resigned from the party, citing disagreements with the present leadership. Sole WP MP Low Thia Khiang took over as secretary-general.

This election saw the end of four-member GRCs and a shortest campaigning period of 17 days after opening of the register of electors. A seat had been vacated in 1999 after the conviction of PAP MP Choo Wee Khiang over commercial crimes, but no by-election was held as the seat was within a GRC. Under the law, an entire electoral constituency, be it GRC or SMC, has to be vacated before a by-election is required, as was done during the Marine Parade GRC by-election of 1992.

Another increase of the election deposit amount this time was the most significant one in history, which almost doubled.

On nomination day, the sole WP GRC team was disqualified for filing incomplete papers in Aljunied Group Representation Constituency. Opposition parties ended up contesting only a-third of the seats, the lowest portion since 1968, which resulted in the largest number of walkovers for PAP in history.

WP's Low and SDA's Chiam retained their seats, but saw their winning margins slashed from the previous GE. With these two opposition wins, one NCMP seat was offered to and accepted by Steve Chia of SDA-NSP, who became the youngest and first ever non-WP NCMP.

Electoral boundaries

Outgoing/New MPs

Results

PAP won a landslide victory and its best result since 1980. The party achieved its third highest score among the general elections it has contested, since 1959. The PAP's vote percentage of 75.3% signalled an overwhelming endorsement of the PAP to lead the nation out of the crisis that came at a time of great uncertainty over world security and the recession that came after 11/9. This was also the last time Goh Chok Tong led the party into a general election.

See also

• List of Singaporean electoral divisions

References

• "Hsien Loong: Election soon". (8 November 2005). New Straits Times, p. 31.

External links

• Singapore Elections Webpage