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Anson Constituency

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Not to be confused with the later Anson Single Member Constituency.

Anson
Former Single Member constituency
for the Parliament of Singapore
RegionSingapore
Former constituency
Created1959
Abolished1988
Seats1
Member(s)Constituency Abolished

Anson Constituency was a constituency in Singapore. It used to exist from 1959 to 1988. During the 1988 electoral reforms, most of the constituency was merged into Tiong Bahru Group Representation Constituency (GRC) while the reminder was merged into Tanjong Pagar Single Member Constituency (SMC).

History

[edit]

Anson Constituency was created in 1959. It was first won by the PAP. However, David Marshall from the newly created Worker's Party would win it in the 1961 Singaporean by-elections with 43% of the votes and represent Anson until his party lost in the 1963 Singaporean general election.

Between 1963 and 1981, Anson was largely uncontested with small minority parties contesting it time to time.

In 1981, incumbent MP and NTUC Unionist, Devan Nair resigned from the PAP and the Parliament to accept the then largely ceremonial office of President as the country's head of state.[1] This resulted in the third time Anson had a by-election. Nominations for the by-election started on 21 October. Three candidates were nominated for the by-election: PAP had Pang Kim Hin, the nephew of former minister Lim Kim San; Workers' Party (WP) secretary-general J. B. Jeyaretnam; and United People's Front Harbans Singh. Chiam See Tong, who recently founded Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) a year prior to the by-election, expressed interest but withdrew later and backed Jeyaretnam.

The by-election was eventually won by Jeyaretnam of WP, breaking PAP's monopoly of full dominance in Parliament, the first time in Singapore since 1968 an opposition party had won a parliamentary seat.[2] Between 1981 and 1984, Jeyaretnam was the only opposition MP in Parliament. He will go on to be MP for Anson and also win with increased votes in the 1984 Singaporean general election along with SDP's Chiam See Tong in Potong Pasir Constituency.

On 10 November 1986, Jeyaretnam lost his parliamentary seat following his convictions for making false statements.[3][4] No By-Elections were called for the vacated seat for 2 years and no one represented Anson between 1986 and 1988.

In 1988, the constituency was dissolved following the establishment of GRCs and SMCs.[5]

Member of Parliament

[edit]
Year Member Party
Formation
Legislative Assembly of Singapore
1959 Baharuddin bin Mohamed Ariff PAP
1961 David Marshall WP
1963 Perumal Govindaswamy PAP
Parliament of Singapore
1968 Perumal Govindaswamy PAP
1972
1976
1979 Devan Nair
1980
1981 Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam WP
1984
Constituency abolished (1988)

Electoral results

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Note : Elections Department Singapore do not include rejected votes for calculation of candidate's vote share. Hence, the total of all candidates' vote share will be 100%.

Elections in the 1950s

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General Election 1959[6][7]
Party Candidate Votes %
PAP Baharuddin bin Mohamed Ariff 5,167 60.75
SPA Goh Kong Beng 1,875 22.04
LSP Tan Cheng Chuan 1,231 14.47
Independent Wong Swee Kee 117 1.36
Independent Krishaan Pakirisamy 116 1.38
Majority 3,292 38.71
Total valid votes 8,506 98.82
Rejected ballots 102 1.18
Turnout 8,608 86.77
Registered electors 9,921
PAP win (new seat)

Elections in the 1960s

[edit]
By-election 1961[8][9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
WP David Marshall 3,598 43.32 N/A
PAP Mahmud bin Awang 3,052 36.75 Decrease24.00
SA Chee Phui Hung 1,482 17.84 Decrease4.20
LSP Mohammed Ismail bin Haji Mohammed Hussain 104 1.25 Decrease13.22
Singapore Congress Mohammed Ibrahim bin Mohd Kassim 69 0.84 N/A
Majority 546 6.57 Decrease32.1
Total valid votes 8,305 86.82 Decrease12.00
Rejected ballots 1,261 13.18 Increase12.00
Turnout 9,566 97.45 Increase10.68
Registered electors 9,816 Decrease1.06
WP gain from PAP
General Election 1963[10][11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
PAP Perumal Govindaswamy 3,957 46.90 Increase10.15
BS Chan Chong Keen 3,123 37.02 N/A
SA Arthur K. Iasac 543 6.44 Decrease11.40
Independent David Marshall 416 4.93 N/A
UPP V. Vythalingam 306 3.63 N/A
WP Chiang Seok Keong 91 1.08 Decrease42.2
Majority 834 9.88 Decrease3.31
Total valid votes 8,436 99.18 Increase12.36
Rejected ballots 70 0.82 Decrease12.36
Turnout 8,506 92.54 Decrease4.91
Registered electors 9,192 Decrease6.36
PAP gain from WP Swing Increase10.15
General Election 1968[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
PAP Perumal Govindaswamy Unopposed
Registered electors 8,764 Decrease4.66
PAP hold

Elections in the 1970s

[edit]
General Election 1972[13][14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
PAP Perumal Govindaswamy 5,027 74.34 N/A
WP Tay Kim Oh 1,291 19.09 N/A
United National Front Paul C. Kunjaraman 444 6.57 N/A
Majority 3,736 55.25 N/A
Total valid votes 6,762 98.01 N/A
Rejected ballots 137 1.99 N/A
Turnout 6,899 84.43 N/A
Registered electors 8,171 Decrease6.77
PAP hold Swing N/A
General Election 1976[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
PAP Perumal Govindaswamy Unopposed
Registered electors 12,755 Increase56.10
PAP hold
By-election 1979[16][17]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
PAP Devan Nair 8,127 86.21 N/A
DPP Johnny Wee Lai Seng 1,300 13.79 N/A
Majority 6,827 72.42 N/A
Total valid votes 9,427 97.25 N/A
Rejected ballots 267 2.75 N/A
Turnout 9,694 86.22 N/A
Registered electors 11,243 Decrease11.85
PAP hold

Elections in the 1980s

[edit]
General Election 1980[18][19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
PAP Devan Nair 11,564 84.10 Decrease2.11
UPF P.M. Thevar 2,187 15.90 N/A
Majority 9,377 68.20 Decrease4.22
Total valid votes 13,751 96.67 Decrease0.58
Rejected ballots 473 3.33 Increase0.58
Turnout 14,224 94.34 Increase8.12
Registered electors 15,077 Increase34.10
PAP hold Swing Decrease2.11
By-election 1981[20][21]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
WP J.B. Jeyaretnam 7,012 51.93 N/A
PAP Pang Kim Hin 6,359 47.10 Decrease37.00
UPF Harbans Singh 131 0.97 Decrease14.93
Majority 653 4.83 Decrease63.37
Total valid votes 13,502 98.22 Increase1.55
Rejected ballots 244 1.78 Decrease1.55
Turnout 13,746 94.72 Increase0.38
Registered electors 14,512 Decrease3.75
WP gain from PAP
General Election 1984[22][23]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
WP J.B. Jeyaretnam 9,909 56.81 Increase4.88
PAP Ng Pock Too 7,533 43.19 Decrease3.91
Majority 2,376 13.62 Increase8.79
Total valid votes 17,442 98.19 Decrease0.03
Rejected ballots 322 1.81 Increase0.03
Turnout 17,764 96.06 Increase1.34
Registered electors 18,493 Increase27.43
WP hold Swing Increase4.88

References

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  1. ^ Singh, Bajinder Pal. "Thailand's Indians hope for stability, peace after coup". Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  2. ^ "Singapore Party Loses Vote". The New York Times. 1 November 1981. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  3. ^ "Jeya's disqualification came into effect on Nov 10". Business Times. 10 December 1986. Archived from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  4. ^ "Firebrand". The New Paper. 2 October 2008. Retrieved 19 November 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ "13 GRCs for next general election". The Straits Times. 15 June 1988. p. 1. Retrieved 13 March 2025 – via NewspaperSG.
  6. ^ "1959 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS".
  7. ^ "Singapore Legislative Assembly General Election 1959 > Anson". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
  8. ^ "ELD | 1961 Legislative Assembly By-election Result". Elections Department Singapore. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
  9. ^ "Singapore Legislative Assembly By-Election July 1961 > Anson". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
  10. ^ "ELD | 1963 Legislative Assembly General Election Results". Elections Department Singapore. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
  11. ^ "Singapore Legislative Assembly General Election 1963 > Anson". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
  12. ^ "ELD | 1968 Parliamentary General Election Results". Elections Department Singapore. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
  13. ^ "ELD | 1972 Parliamentary General Election Results". Elections Department Singapore. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  14. ^ "Singapore Parliamentary General Election 1972 > Anson". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  15. ^ "ELD | 1976 Parliamentary General Election Results". Elections Department Singapore. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  16. ^ "ELD | 1979 Parliamentary By-election Results". Elections Department Singapore. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  17. ^ "Singapore Parliamentary By-Elections 1979 > Anson". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  18. ^ "ELD | 1980 Parliamentary General Election Results". Elections Department Singapore. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  19. ^ "Singapore Parliamentary General Election 1980 > Anson". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  20. ^ "ELD | 1981 Parliamentary By-election Result". Elections Department Singapore. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  21. ^ "Singapore Parliamentary By-Election 1981 > Anson". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  22. ^ "ELD | 1984 Parliamentary General Election Results". Elections Department Singapore. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  23. ^ "Singapore Parliamentary General Election 1984 > Anson". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
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