Singaporean by-elections, 1979

The by-election was held on 10 February 1979 while the nomination day was held on 31 January 1979.

Background

Similar to 1970 by election, as part of the People's Action Party continuous initiative to renew its ranks, the PAP had invited six instead of five veteran PAP Ministers and Members of Parliament (MPs) to resign. Also, with the demise of Anson's MP P. Govindaswamy, the 1979 by-election is regarded as the biggest-ever by-election in Singapore's history where there are seven seats namely Anson, Geylang West, Mountbatten, Nee Soon, Potong Pasir, Sembawang and Telok Blangah up for grabs. This by election also sees Chiam See Tong made his debut on Potong Pasir who will be the MP for that area on his third attempt in 1984 General elections with his second attempt made on the next year's general election.

Since this is the biggest ever by election in Singapore's history, therefore key opposition stalwarts emerged to contest with the exception of Barisan Sosialis which was then criticised by United People's Front (Singapore) and left the only two constituencies out of seven, namely Nee Soon and Geylang West to be uncontested.

Election deposit

The election deposit was set at $1200. Similar to previous elections, the election deposit will be forfeited if the particular candidate had failed to secure at least 12.5% or one-eighth of the votes.

Results

By-election 1979: Anson
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Chengara Veetil Devan Nair	8,127	86.2	N/A
	UF	Johnny Wee Lai Seng	1,300	13.8	N/A
Majority			6,827	72.4	N/A
Turnout			9,694	86.2	N/A
	PAP hold		Swing	N/A

By-election 1979: Geylang West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Teh Cheang Wan	Walkover
Majority
Turnout			20,874
	PAP hold		Swing	N/A

By-election 1979: Mountbatten
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Eugene Yap Giau Cheng	10,528	79.9	+14.0
	UF	Seow Khee Leng	2,642	20.1	-14.0
Majority			7,886	59.8	+28
Turnout			13,536	94.9	-0.4
	PAP hold		Swing	+14.0

By-election 1979: Nee Soon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Koh Lip Lin	Walkover
Majority
Turnout			15,932
	PAP hold		Swing	N/A

By-election 1979: Potong Pasir
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Howe Yoon Chong	9,056	66.8	-8.0
	Independent	Chiam See Tong	4,491	33.2	+33.2
Majority			4,565	33.6	-16
Turnout			13,854	94.2	+0.6
	PAP hold		Swing	-8.0

By-election 1979: Sembawang
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Tony Tan Keng Yam	12,824	78.4	-5.2
	United People's Front	Harbans Singh	3,528	21.6	+5.2
Majority			9,296	56.8	-10.4
Turnout			16,714	94.6	-0.2
	PAP hold		Swing	-5.2

By-election 1979: Telok Blangah
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Rohan bin Kamis	12,687	61.2	N/A
	WP	Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam	8,036	38.8	N/A
Majority			4,651	22.4	N/A
Turnout			21,089	95.0	N/A
	PAP hold		Swing	N/A

References

• Background of 1979 By election
• Results of 1979 By election