Singapore general election, 1959

Singaporean general election, 1959

← 1955 30 May 1959 1963 →
All 51 seats to the Legislative Assembly 26 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	527,919 (92.9%)
First party Second party   Leader Lee Kuan Yew Lim Yew Hock Party PAP SPA Leader's seat Tanjong Pagar Cairnhill Seats won 43 4 Seat change 40 New Popular vote 281,891 107,755 Percentage 54.1% 20.7% Swing 45.4% New
Chief Minister before election Lim Yew Hock SPA Elected Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew PAP

Lim Yew Hock
SPA

Lee Kuan Yew
PAP

General elections were held in Singapore on 30 May 1959. They were held under the new constitution and the first in which all seats in the Legislative Assembly were elected. The result was a landslide victory for the People's Action Party (PAP), which won 43 of the 51 seats. The PAP has remained in power since the elections.

The ruling Labour Front had won the 1955 general elections under David Marshall. However, Marshall was vocally anti-British and anti-colonialist, and the British found it difficult to come to an agreement or a compromise. Eventually after failing to reach any agreement about a definite plan for self-government he resigned in 1956, following a pledge that he would achieve self-government or resign. Lim Yew Hock, another Labour Front member, took his place. He pursued an aggressive anti-communist campaign and manage to convince the British to make a definite plan for self-government. The Constitution of Singapore was revised accordingly in 1958, replacing the Rendel Constitution with one that granted Singapore self-government and the ability for its own population to fully elect its Legislative Assembly. Previously under the Rendel Constitution, drawn up in 1955 by a commission led by George William Rendel, the Legislative Assembly and its leaders could not fully be determined by the population; the British government appointed seven of the 32 members, with the remaining 25 seats elected by the public, albeit with limited suffrage. This itself was an improvement from the pre-1955 Legislative Council, in which only nine of the 25 members were elected.

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