# 1997 Singaporean general election

General elections were held in Singapore on 2 January 1997. President Ong Teng Cheong dissolved parliament on 16 December 1996 on the advice of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. The results were released in the late evening that day and the ruling People's Action Party won a total of 81 out of 83 seats as well as a tenth consecutive term in office under the then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. Other major political parties contesting in the election were the Workers' Party, Singapore Democratic Party, National Solidarity Party, Singapore People's Party and the Democratic Progressive Party.
The 1997 election is the only election that spanned two calendar years with nomination day happening the preceding year on 23 December 1996 and polling day on 2 January 1997; during nomination day, the People's Action Party returned to power for the second consecutive (and third overall) election as 47 (more than half of the total 83) seats were won uncontested. On polling day, voters voted for the election for the remaining 36 seats, with the opposition party candidates winning only in two seats, down from the four they won in the last election. In this election, Group Representation Constituencies were increased from four members to between four and six members (six-member seats would remain present for two decades until its first absence in the 2020 election).

## Background

This election was Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's opportunity to win a better mandate after the PAP's considerably poorer showing in the 1991 election. Two seats in PAP-held Eunos and Toa Payoh GRCs were vacated after the death of Member of Parliament (MP), Dr Tay Eng Soon and inauguration of former Deputy Prime Minister Ong Teng Cheong as Singapore's fifth and first elected President in 1993 respectively; however, both GRCs did not held by-elections and were instead subsumed into neighbouring GRCs. A third incumbent, Lim Chee Oon of the Marine Parade GRC, retired from politics ahead of the by-election in 1992, and future Minister Teo Chee Hean (now as Senior Minister) succeeded Lim.
In 1993, a year following the events of the Marine Parade GRC by-election, the largest opposition party, Singapore Democratic Party, faced a serious internal strife where former leader and Potong Pasir then-MP Chiam See Tong sued his party's Central Executive Committee (which include current secretary-general Chee Soon Juan and chairman Ling How Doong) for defamation, which he won; Chiam resigned from SDP prior to nominations to lead his splinter party, Singapore People's Party. In 1994, Chee criticized then-Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong over a lack of democracy, which led to the attention of Organising Secretary and Marine Parade GRC member-of-parliament Matthias Yao; Chee publicly request to challenge Yao with a condition of carving out his MacPherson ward from Marine Parade GRC into a SMC, which the latter accepted.

## Timeline

| Date | Event |
| 21 November 1996 | Publication of Electoral Boundaries report |
| 16 December 1996 | Dissolution of 8th Parliament |
| 23 December 1996 | Nomination Day |
| 2 January | Polling day |
| 15 January | Announcement of Non-constituency Member of Parliament |
| 26 May | Opening of 9th Parliament |

## Nominations and campaigning

The 8th Parliament was dissolved on 16 December 1996, and nominations were held exactly a week after. At the close of the nomination, 122 candidates were nominated among which PAP returned to power for the second consecutive (and third) election after a majority of seats (47) were uncontested; among which were Tampines GRC, which the National Solidarity Party team was disqualified after one candidate was found to have his name struck off the electoral rolls for not voting in 1991. Chia Shi Teck became the first former Nominated MP to contest in the election as an independent candidate in an only four-cornered fight in Chua Chu Kang SMC. The Democratic Progressive Party, formerly named Singapore United Front, contested by a father-son duo led by Tan Soon Phuan and Tan Lead Shake (the latter now a member of NSP).
During campaigning, Tang Liang Hong, who was standing on the WP ticket with its secretary-general J. B. Jeyaretnam for Cheng San GRC, faced criticism where Tang was accused by PAP of being an anti-Christian Chinese chauvinist.

## Electoral boundaries

New six-member Group Representation Constituencies (GRC) were formed in the election, while six existing GRCs were absorbed into neighboring GRCs. Divisions of each constituencies which were either absorbed or carved out Single Member Constituencies (SMC), or creating smaller divisions, were reflected in the table:
| Constituency | Changes |
| Aljunied GRC | Ward upsized to five members Absorbed Eunos from Eunos GRC, Changkat South division from Tampines GRC (renamed to Changi-Simei), and portions of Serangoon Gardens division from Thomson GRC |
| Ang Mo Kio GRC | Ward upsized to five members Absorbed Nee Soon South SMC, portions of Chong Boon division from Cheng San GRC, and portions of Serangoon Gardens division from Thomson GRC |
| Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC | New Constituency Formed with Thomson GRC (and a small portion of Serangoon Gardens division) and Toa Payoh GRC, with Boon Teck and Kim Keat divisions absorbed to Toa Payoh Central division, and Kuo Chuan to Toa Payoh East division |
| Bukit Timah GRC | New Constituency Formed with Bukit Batok, Bukit Timah, Jurong, Ulu Pandan and Yuhua SMCs, and parts of Clementi division from Brickworks GRC |
| Cheng San GRC | Ward upsized to five members Punggol division was split into Punggol Central, Punggol East and Punggol South divisions Carved out Chong Boon division to Ang Mo Kio GRC and Cheng San division |
| East Coast GRC | New Constituency Absorbed Joo Chiat division from Marine Parade GRC, Kaki Bukit division from Eunos GRC, Changi SMC and Bedok GRC Changi division was absorbed into Changi-Simei and Siglap divisions |
| Hong Kah GRC | Ward upsized to five members Absorbed a portion of Chua Chu Kang SMC (forming Yew Tee division) and Jurong SMC Hong Kah West division was split to include Nanyang division (which also absorbed a portion of Jurong SMC) |
| Jalan Besar GRC | Kallang division was dissolved into Kolam Ayer, Jalan Besar, Whampoa and Kampong Glam wards |
| Kreta Ayer–Tanglin GRC | New Constituency Formed with Kreta Ayer SMC, Tanglin SMC and portions of Kampong Glam GRC (except for Kampong Glam division, which was split into SMC) |
| Marine Parade GRC | Ward upsized to six members Absorbed Braddell Heights and Mountbatten SMC, and portions of Serangoon Gardens division from Thomson GRC (forming Serangoon division) Carved out MacPherson division into SMC, and Joo Chiat division into East Coast GRC |
| Pasir Ris GRC | New Constituency Absorbed Pasir Ris and portions of Tampines North division (renamed to Pasir Ris South) from Eunos GRC, while Pasir Ris division was split into Pasir Ris Central, Pasir Ris East and Pasir Ris Loyang divisions |
| Sembawang GRC | Ward upzised to six members Bukit Panjang and Sembawang divisions were split to include Marsiling and Woodlands divisions, respectively |
| Tampines GRC | Tampines West division was split to include Tampines Central division Carved a portion of Changkat South division to Aljunied GRC, while the rest absorbed to Tampines Changkat division |
| Tanjong Pagar GRC | Ward upsized to six members Absorbed Brickworks and Queenstown division from Brickworks GRC, as well as Bukit Merah, Buona Vista and Leng Kee SMCs Carved out Telok Blangah division to West Coast GRC Brickworks division was absorbed into Pasir Panjang & Queenstown divisions |
| West Coast GRC | New Constituency Formed with Telok Blangah division from Tanjong Pagar GRC, and Clementi & West Coast divisions from Brickworks GRC |

## New and retiring candidates

24 PAP and 18 opposition candidates were among the candidates making their election debuts this year, while 17 incumbents were to retire ahead of the election. The list are as follows:
| Retiring Candidates | New Candidates |
| Ho Kah Leong (Jurong), 58 since 1966 Ch'ng Jit Koon (Tanjong Pagar GRC), 62 since 1968 Yeo Toon Chia (Ang Mo Kio GRC), 55 since 1970 Chin Harn Tong (Aljunied GRC), 59 since 1972 Lee Yiok Seng (Sembawang GRC), 57 since 1972 Ahmad Mattar (Brickworks GRC), 57 since 1972 Dhanabalan Suppiah (Toa Payoh GRC), 59 since 1976 Lau Teik Soon (Thomson GRC), 59 since 1976 Teo Chong Tee (Changi), 54 since 1976 Koh Lip Lin (Nee Soon South), 60 since 1979 Sitaram Chandra Das (Cheng San GRC), 57 since 1980 Yeo Ning Hong (Kampong Glam GRC), 53 since 1980 Wong Kwei Cheong (Kampong Glam GRC), 55 since 1980 Lau Ping Sum (Ang Mo Kio GRC), 55 since 1980 Zulkifi Mohammad (Jalan Besar GRC), 48 since 1984 Arthur Beng (Bedok GRC), 47 since 1984 Peter Sung (Buona Vista), 56 since 1988 Umar Abdul Hamid (Ang Mo Kio GRC), 36 since 1991 | Ahmad Magad, 43 Ang Mong Seng, 47 Chan Soo Sen, 40 Chin Tet Yung, 45 David Lim Tik En, 41 Hawazi Daipi, 42 Heng Chee How, 35 Inderjit Singh, 36 Lily Neo, 43 Lim Hwee Hua, 37 Lim Swee Say, 42 Ong Ah Heng, 52 Peter Chen, 58 R Ravindran, 36 Seng Han Thong, 46 Subramaniam Iswaran, 34 Tan Boon Wan, 48 Teo Ho Pin, 36 Toh See Kiat, 42 Yaacob Ibrahim, 41 Yeo Guat Kwang, 35 Zainul Abidin bin Mohammed Rasheed, 48 |

## Results

The voter turnout in contested constituencies at 95.91% is Singapore's highest election turnout in history. Kampong Glam's PAP candidate Loh Meng See won the best result this election with 74.52% of the valid votes. Only two candidates (Tan Soo Phuan and Syed Farid Wajidi) had their election deposit forfeited. This is the last general election to date to see a four-cornered contest in one of the constituencies contested (not counting the 2011 Singaporean presidential election or the 2013 Punggol East by-election, which were also four-cornered contests).
| | People's Action Party | 465,751 | 64.98 | +4.01 | 81 | +4 |
| | Workers' Party | 101,544 | 14.17 | –0.12 | 1 | 0 |
| | Singapore Democratic Party | 76,129 | 10.62 | –1.36 | 0 | –3 |
| | National Solidarity Party | 48,322 | 6.74 | –0.57 | 0 | 0 |
| | Singapore People's Party | 16,746 | 2.34 | New | 1 | New |
| | Democratic Progressive Party | 5,043 | 0.70 | New | 0 | New |
| | Independents | 3,210 | 0.45 | –1.41 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 716,745 | 100.00 | – | 83 | +2 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 716,745 | 97.65 | | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 17,255 | 2.35 | | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 734,000 | 100.00 | | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 765,332 | 95.91 | | | |
| Source: Singapore Elections |||||||

### By constituency

| Constituency | Seats | Electorate | Party | Candidates | Votes | % |
| Aljunied GRC | 5 | 103,466 | People's Action Party | Ker Sin Tze David Lim Sidek Saniff Toh See Kiat George Yeo | 64,299 | 67.02 |
| Aljunied GRC | 5 | 103,466 | Singapore Democratic Party | Aziz Ibrahim Kwan Yue Keng S. Kunalen Tay Hoon Wong Hong Toy | 31,645 | 32.98 |
| Ang Mo Kio GRC | 5 | 125,344 | People's Action Party | Lee Hsien Loong Seng Han Thong Inderjit Singh Tan Boon Wan Tang Guan Seng | Uncontested | Uncontested |
| Ayer Rajah SMC | 1 | 22,025 | People's Action Party | Tan Cheng Bock | 15,081 | 73.17 |
| Ayer Rajah SMC | 1 | 22,025 | Singapore People's Party | Sin Kek Tong | 5,531 | 26.83 |
| Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC | 5 | 122,256 | People's Action Party | Ho Tat Kin Ibrahim Othman Leong Horn Kee Davinder Singh Wong Kan Seng | Uncontested | Uncontested |
| Boon Lay SMC | 1 | 20,014 | People's Action Party | Goh Chee Wee | 12,407 | 66.10 |
| Boon Lay SMC | 1 | 20,014 | National Solidarity Party | Christopher Neo | 6,362 | 33.90 |
| Bukit Gombak SMC | 1 | 24,909 | People's Action Party | Ang Mong Seng | 15,229 | 65.14 |
| Bukit Gombak SMC | 1 | 24,909 | Singapore Democratic Party | Ling How Doong | 6,643 | 28.42 |
| Bukit Gombak SMC | 1 | 24,909 | Singapore People's Party | Syed Farid Wajidi | 1,506 | 6.44 |
| Bukit Timah GRC | 5 | 118,248 | People's Action Party | Foo Yee Shoon Lim Boon Heng Ong Chit Chung R. Ravindran Wang Kai Yuen | Uncontested | Uncontested |
| Cheng San GRC | 5 | 103,323 | People's Action Party | Heng Chiang Meng Lee Yock Suan Michael Lim Yeo Guat Kwang Zainul Abidin Rasheed | 53,553 | 54.82 |
| Cheng San GRC | 5 | 103,323 | Workers' Party | Abdul Rahim Bin Osman Huang Seow Kwang J. B. Jeyaretnam Tan Bin Seng Tang Liang Hong | 44,132 | 45.18 |
| Chua Chu Kang SMC | 1 | 24,074 | People's Action Party | Low Seow Chay | 14,141 | 61.92 |
| Chua Chu Kang SMC | 1 | 24,074 | National Solidarity Party | Yip Yew Weng | 5,040 | 22.07 |
| Chua Chu Kang SMC | 1 | 24,074 | Independent | Chia Shi Teck | 3,210 | 14.06 |
| Chua Chu Kang SMC | 1 | 24,074 | Democratic Progressive Party | Tan Soo Phuan | 445 | 1.95 |
| East Coast GRC | 6 | 142,201 | People's Action Party | Abdullah Tarmugi Chan Soo Sen Chew Heng Ching Chng Hee Kok S. Jayakumar Tan Soo Khoon | Uncontested | Uncontested |
| Hong Kah GRC | 5 | 125,452 | People's Action Party | John Chen Kenneth Chen Peter Chen Min Liang Harun Abdul Ghani Yeo Cheow Tong | 82,182 | 69.00 |
| Hong Kah GRC | 5 | 125,452 | National Solidarity Party | Steve Chia Patrick Kee Tan Chee Kien Wong Wee Nam Yadzeth Bin Hairis | 36,920 | 31.00 |
| Hougang SMC | 1 | 24,423 | Workers' Party | Low Thia Khiang | 13,458 | 58.02 |
| Hougang SMC | 1 | 24,423 | People's Action Party | Heng Chee How | 9,736 | 41.98 |
| Jalan Besar GRC | 4 | 71,922 | People's Action Party | Choo Wee Khiang Lee Boon Yang Peh Chin Hua Yaacob Ibrahim | 44,840 | 67.55 |
| Jalan Besar GRC | 4 | 71,922 | Singapore Democratic Party | David Chew Gandhi Ambalam Jufrie Mahmood Low Yong Nguan | 21,537 | 32.45 |
| Kampong Glam SMC | 1 | 20,044 | People's Action Party | Loh Meng See | 13,446 | 74.52 |
| Kampong Glam SMC | 1 | 20,044 | Democratic Progressive Party | Tan Lead Shake | 4,598 | 25.48 |
| Kreta Ayer-Tanglin GRC | 4 | 75,126 | People's Action Party | Richard Hu Lew Syn Pau Lily Neo R. Sinnakaruppan | Uncontested | Uncontested |
| MacPherson SMC | 1 | 20,734 | People's Action Party | Matthias Yao | 12,546 | 65.14 |
| MacPherson SMC | 1 | 20,734 | Singapore Democratic Party | Chee Soon Juan | 6,713 | 34.86 |
| Marine Parade GRC | 6 | 142,106 | People's Action Party | Goh Chok Tong Goh Choon Kang Lim Hwee Hua Mohamad Maidin B P M Othman Haron Eusofe Eugene Yap | Uncontested | Uncontested |
| Nee Soon Central SMC | 1 | 26,257 | People's Action Party | Ong Ah Heng | 15,214 | 61.33 |
| Nee Soon Central SMC | 1 | 26,257 | Singapore Democratic Party | Cheo Chai Chen | 9,591 | 38.67 |
| Pasir Ris GRC | 4 | 85,908 | People's Action Party | Ahmad Mohamed Magad Charles Chong Ong Kian Min Teo Chee Hean | 56,907 | 70.86 |
| Pasir Ris GRC | 4 | 85,908 | Workers' Party | A. Balakrishnan A. Rahim Lim Chiu Liang Sim Say Chuan | 23,404 | 29.14 |
| Potong Pasir SMC | 1 | 18,759 | Singapore People's Party | Chiam See Tong | 9,709 | 55.15 |
| Potong Pasir SMC | 1 | 18,759 | People's Action Party | Gan Lai Chiang | 7,895 | 44.85 |
| Sembawang GRC | 6 | 154,402 | People's Action Party | Chin Tet Yung Hawazi Daipi Ho Peng Kee K. Shanmugam Tony Tan Teo Ho Pin | Uncontested | Uncontested |
| Tampines GRC | 4 | 94,476 | People's Action Party | Aline Wong Mah Bow Tan Sin Boon Ann Yatiman Yusof | Uncontested | Uncontested |
| Tanjong Pagar GRC | 6 | 141,520 | People's Action Party | Chay Wai Chuen Koo Tsai Kee Lee Kuan Yew Lim Swee Say Ow Chin Hock S. Vasoo | Uncontested | Uncontested |
| West Coast GRC | 4 | 74,022 | People's Action Party | Bernard Chen Lim Hng Kiang S. Iswaran Wan Soon Bee | 48,275 | 70.14 |
| West Coast GRC | 4 | 74,022 | Workers' Party | Mike Chan Anthony D'Cruz John Gan Ng Teck Siong | 20,550 | 29.86 |
| Source: ELD ||||||||

## Aftermath

With the Housing Development Board (public housing) upgrading scheme dangled as a pricy stake for voters, PAP reversed its electoral decline for the first time in four elections with an increase of four percentage points, and it was the first election since 1963 to wrestle back two of four opposition wards (namely Bukit Gombak and Nee Soon Central) which was previously captured in the last election; due to Chiam's defection to SPP, SDP failed to win any seats and no longer have any seat representation since 1984; till this day SDP had never won any seats as of the 2020 election.
With the election of two opposition MPs (SPP's Chiam and WP's assistant secretary-general Low Thia Khiang), one Non-Constituency Member of Parliament seat was offered to the WP team of Cheng San Group Representation Constituency with the best-performing losing opposition team, which scored 45.2%; WP accepted the offer and elected secretary-general Jeyaretnam as the NCMP, making his return to the Parliament since 1986.
In June 1997, when Nominated MPs were re-appointed, the number was increased from six to nine. On 6 September 1999, the 9th Parliament was relocated to the New Parliament House located within the Civic District facing North Bridge Road, while the former Parliament House was closed until it reopened on 26 March 2004, in which it was renamed to The Arts House.

### Tang Liang Hong's self-imposed exile

After the election, WP candidate for Cheng San Group Representation Constituency, Tang Liang Hong was sued for defamation by several of the PAP's leaders, including then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, then-Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew and then-Deputy Prime Ministers Lee Hsien Loong and Tony Tan, who accused him of making statements during the campaign which falsely questioned their integrity. A total of 13 judgements were entered against Tang for defamation.
Tang left Singapore shortly after the election and eventually found refuge in Australia.