# 1981 Anson by-election

A by-election for the seat of Anson Constituency, was held on 31 October 1981.
The by-election marked the first occasion since Singapore's independence in which a PAP candidate was defeated in an election for a seat in Parliament, with Workers' Party candidate J. B. Jeyaretnam, after six attempts since his debut in 1972, won the by-election winning 51.93% of the vote. The 37% swing against the PAP is the largest ever swing in a by-election in independent Singapore, and the second largest since 1961. It was also the first time where an opposition party gained a seat from the ruling People's Action Party in a by-election, a feat which did not occur again until 2013.

## Background

On 14 October, Devan Nair was sworn as the nation's third President of Singapore; under the Constitution, a President is a nonpartisan role, and therefore Nair was required to resign from both the party and his seat of Anson. It was the third time Anson had gone to the polls via by-election, after 1961 and 1979. Nominations commenced a week after 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 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.

## Result

By-election 1981: Anson :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | WP | J.B. Jeyaretnam | 7,012 | 51.93 | +51.9 |
| | PAP | Pang Kim Hin | 6,359 | 47.10 | −37.0 |
| | PF | Harbans Singh | 131 | 0.97 | −14.9 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 653 | 4.8 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 13,746 | 94.7 | +0.3 |
| | WP gain from PAP | WP gain from PAP | Swing | N/A | |

## Aftermath

The by-election had been noted historic as it was the first time in post-independence Singapore where the Parliament had an opposition representation, with the last instance being 1961 when party founder David Marshall also won a by-election in Anson as a candidate for the party. Unlike Marshall where he lost his re-election in 1963 general election, Jeyaretnam was able to retain its seat in the next general election in 1984 with an increased margin; Jeyaretnam would hold this seat for five years until his vacation in 1986 for pressed charges.
Analysis cited that Pang's defeat was the lack of public exposure (or usage of Anson's grassroots leaders during his campaign) as compared to Jeyaretnam who had stood in several general and by-elections. Another issue surrounding the campaign was that residents in the Blair Plain area of the constituency were unhappy that they were not being given priority for HDB flats when their homes were being demolished to make way for a new Port of Singapore Authority container complex, and some voters may have used the by-election as an opportunity to express discontent regarding this.
Following the by-election, Pang announced his retirement of politics, though he was offered a place in the next election, he ultimately declined, making him the first PAP candidate to never enter parliament. He remained the only candidate to do so until Eric Low in the 2001 election before retiring in 2011.
Harbans Singh became the first candidate in Singapore election's history to have forfeited his election deposit twice, with the first occurring on the 1976 elections contesting under Tanjong Pagar with 11.0% of the valid votes.
Ever since the by-election, PAP had never again attain a government monopoly of all the seats despite being the dominant party in Singapore politics.