Singaporean general election, 1991

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31 August 1991

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81 seats to the Parliament of Singapore Only 40 seats contested; 41 seats needed for a majority

Turnout

95.0%

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Goh Chok Tong	Chiam See Tong	J.B. Jeyaretnam
Party	PAP	SDP	WP
Leader since	1990 (as prime minister)	1980	1971
Leader's seat	Marine Parade GRC	Potong Pasir SMC	Did not contest
Last election	80 seats, 63.2%	1 seat, 12.0%	0 seats, 16.7%
Seats won	77	3	1
Seat change	3	2	1
Popular vote	477,760	93,856	112,010
Percentage	61.0%	12.0%(total) / 48.6%(valid)	14.3%(total) / 41.1%(valid)
Swing	2.2%	0.2%/9.1%	2.4%/2.6%

Prime Minister before election

Goh Chok Tong
PAP

Elected Prime Minister

Goh Chok Tong
PAP

General elections were held in Singapore on 31 August 1991. The result was a victory for the People's Action Party, which won 77 of the 81 seats. Voter turnout was 95.0%, although this figure represents the turnout in the 25 constituencies to be contested, with PAP candidates earning walkovers in the other 41.

This was Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's first election as leader of the PAP after Lee Kuan Yew stepped down in 1990. PM Goh decided to call a snap election merely three years after the last GE, setting Parliament's shortest term ever, to court a fresh mandate. However, it lost an unprecedented four seats, the biggest number since the 1963 GE, and its share of votes fell for the third consecutive time since 1984. The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) added two more spoils to the seat retained successfully by leader Chiam See Tong, becoming the main opposition party in Parliament. Eight out of nine SDP candidates came in among the top ten opposition candidates. The Workers' Party of Singapore (WP) made its second in-road into the legislature with the victory of its organising secretary Low Thia Khiang, who would years later become WP secretary-general and leader.

At a post-election press conference on the night of 31 August, PM Goh glumly attributed the loss to his "open and consultative style of government" and pledged to re-evaluate his style. Sizes of Group Representation Constituencies were increased from three to four seats each. Since the introduction of the Non-Constituency Member of Parliament scheme in 1984, this was the first GE with no NCMP seats offered as the four opposition seats exceeded the minimum of three NCMP seats allotted. Therefore, the narrow defeat of WP's Eunos GRC team, helmed by Dr Lee Siew Choh again, did not see to Dr Lee's return as NCMP. This was his final legislature and electoral presence as he resigned from WP and retired from politics in 1993. The maximum of six Nominated MPs were appointed for this term, up from two Nominated MPs previously.

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