1948 Singaporean general election

General elections were held for the first time in Singapore on 20 March 1948,[1] when six of the 22 seats on the Legislative Council became directly-elected. Voting was not compulsory and was restricted to British subjects, who constituted around 2% of the 940,000 population. Although various organisations called for a boycott of the elections, voter turnout was 63.1%.

1948 Singaporean general election
20 March 1948
6 (of the 22) seats to the Legislative Council
Turnout63.1%
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader – Tan Chye Cheng
Party Independent PP
Leader since 1945
Leader's seat – Municipal South-West
Seats won 3 3
Popular vote 11,997 11,754
Percentage 50.5% 49.5%
Results by constituency
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The Progressive Party (PP) was the only contesting party, winning three of the six elected seats.

Background

The election was announced on 1 February, and nominations were due by 15 February. The campaign period lasted for 31 days.

Electoral system

Of the 22 seats in the Legislative Council, six were elected, three nominated by commercial organisations (the Singapore Chamber of Commerce, Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Indian Chamber of Commerce), and thirteen appointed by the British authorities; these included the Governor, Colonial Secretary, Financial Secretary, Attorney-General, Solicitor-General, two Directors, two ex officio Commissioners and four non-officio ones.

The six elected seats were elected from four constituencies; two two-seat constituencies and two single-member constituencies. Parties had no fixed standard symbol and candidates had to ballot for one offered by the elections office.

Results
Party Votes % Seats
Progressive Party11,75449.53
Independents11,99750.53
Invalid/blank votes1,321––
Total25,0721006
Votes cast14,126100
Registered voters/turnout22,33463.2
Source: Singapore Elections

By constituency
Color key
       Candidate was elected into the Legislative Council of Singapore
Constituency Candidate Party Votes %
Municipal North-East
(Electorate: 8,668)		 Mohamed Javad Namazie Independent 2,672 24.4
John Laycock Progressive Party 2,221 20.3
M K Chidambaram Independent 1,622 14.8
Charles Joseph Pemberton Paglar Independent 1,420 13
Richard Lim Chuan Hoe Independent 1,161 10.6
Valiya Purayil Abdullah Independent 944 8.6
Lim Chuan Geok Progressive Party 892 8.2
Invalid/blank votes 660  –
Municipal South-West
(Electorate: 8,800)		 Tan Chye Cheng Progressive Party 4,125 42.3
Nazir Ahmad Mallal Progressive Party 4,056 41.6
Mirza Abdul Majid Independent 1,572 16.1
Invalid/blank votes 547  –
Rural East
(Electorate: 2,092)		 Sardon Jubir Independent 607 54.9
Cheong Hock Chye Independent 498 45.1
Invalid/blank votes 39  –
Rural West
(Electorate: 2,774)		 Srish Chandra Goho Independent 981 50
Malathi Pillai Independent 520 26.5
Arumugan Ponnu Rajah Progressive Party 460 23.5
Invalid/blank votes 75  –
Source: Singapore Elections

See also

References
  1. Legislative Council General Election 1948 Singapore Elections
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