1955 Singaporean general election

Following the promulgation of the Rendel Constitution, the 1955 elections were the first occasion on which a majority of the seats were to be elected rather than be appointed by the colonial authorities. The new constitution was written after recommendations by a committee to grant local citizens more autonomy, headed by George Rendel, were passed.

According to the new Constitution, locals would share executive power with the colonial authorities and there would be a Chief Minister among elected legislators. The number of elected seats was increased to 25, with the British government appointing the remaining seven members. For the first time, political parties were permitted to adopt a standard party symbol for all their candidates and independents to select theirs instead of balloting for them.[1]

The Governor of Singapore and Colonial Secretary posts were replaced by a Chief Secretary, who inherited the power to appoint four nominated Assembly Members. Also scrapped were the seats of the Solicitor-General, two directors, two ex-officios, the three commercial organisations and the City Council representative.

Much to the surprise for British, who had anticipated a Progressive victory and its leader, Tan Chye Cheng, to emerge as Chief Minister, it was the Labour Front that garnered the most seats and its chairman, David Marshall, thus became Singapore's first Chief Minister. Both losing and winning parties were shocked by the results.[1] Labour Front formed a government with support of the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA), UMNO and the Malay Union.

In its first elections, the newly formed People's Action Party, led by lawyer and former Progressive Party election agent Lee Kuan Yew, chose to field only a handful of candidates to protest against the Rendel Constitution. As independent member Ahmad bin Ibrahim joined PAP following the election, PAP had 4 members in the Assembly and thus Lee became the new Leader of the Opposition.[2]

By constituency

Constituency	Electorate	Turnout	%	Party		Candidate	Votes	%
Bukit Panjang	8,012	4,355	54.36		Progressive Party	Goh Tong Liang	3,097	72.21
					Labour Front	Lim Wee Toh	1,192	27.79
Bukit Timah	9,173	6,272	68.37		People's Action Party	Lim Chin Siong	3,259	52.45
					Democratic Party	Tan Wah Meng	1,308	21.05
					Labour Front	A. N. Mitra	924	14.88
					Progressive Party	S. F. Ho	722	11.62
Cairnhill	13,528	7,011	51.83		Labour Front	David Saul Marshall	3,305	47.58
					Progressive Party	Tan Chye Cheng	2,530	36.42
					Democratic Party	Tan Khiang Khoo	1,111	16.00
Changi	11,239	5,891	52.42		Democratic Party	Lim Cher Kheng	2,624	45.08
					Progressive Party	S. G. Mohamed Ghows	1,699	29.19
					Labour Front	Wong Sau Sheung	1,498	25.73
Farrer Park	12,242	6,803	55.57		Labour Front	Anthony Rebeiro Lazarous	2,585	38.52
					People's Action Party	Chengara Veetil Devan Nair	2,219	33.07
					Progressive Party	Eric Wee Sian Beng	1,784	26.59
					Independent	C. T. B. Unnithan	85	1.27
					Independent	Chua Kim Watt	37	0.55
Geylang	16,604	6,781	40.84		Labour Front	Mak Pak Shee	2,756	41.17
					Independent	Goh Hood Kiat	1,386	20.71
					Labour Party	Lee Yong Min	1,325	19.80
					Democratic Party	Lam Joon Chong	1,226	18.32
Havelock	12,835	6,703	52.22		Labour Front	Lim Yew Hock	5,744	86.48
					Independent	C. S. Soh	525	7.90
					Progressive Party	Chua Bock Kwee	373	5.62
Kampong Kapor	13,815	7,199	52.11		Labour Front	Seah Peng Chuan	3,253	45.60
					Independent	Caralapati Raghaviah Dasaratha Raj	2,155	30.21
					Democratic Party	Wong Shian Yein	1,283	17.98
					Progressive Party	Lim Kian Lee	443	6.21
Katong	22,196	10,370	46.72		Labour Front	Armand Joseph Braga	4,680	45.66
					Progressive Party	Christopher John Laycock	2,965	28.93
					Democratic Party	Chan Wah Chip	2,605	25.41
Pasir Panjang	13,812	7,911	57.28		Malayan Chinese Association	Wong Foo Nam	3,546	45.17
					Progressive Party	K. Mohd S. Hamid	2,370	30.19
					Labour Front	P. V. Krishnan	1,306	16.63
					Democratic Party	Leong Foon Chew	629	8.01
Paya Lebar	12,827	6,494	50.63		Progressive Party	Lim Koon Teck	3,330	52.07
					Democratic Party	Tan Eng Joo	3,065	47.93
Punggol-Tampines	6,628	3,886	58.63		People's Action Party	Goh Chew Chua	2,127	55.38
					Democratic Party	Anthony Goh	918	23.90
					Progressive Party	H. A. De Silva	796	20.72
Queenstown	7,015	4,201	59.89		Labour Front	Lee Choon Eng	2,792	67.28
					Democratic Party	Murray Bruce Brash	736	17.73
					Progressive Party	Elizabeth Choy-Yong Su Mei	622	14.99
Rochore	12,073	6,414	53.13		Labour Front	Tan Theng Chiang	2,929	46.25
					Democratic Party	Ong Eng Lian	1,897	29.95
					Progressive Party	Soh Ghee Soon	1,507	23.80
Seletar	9,402	5,620	59.77		Independent	Madai Puthan Damodaran Nair	1,771	31.83
					Independent	Lek Poh Song	1,632	29.33
					Democratic Party	Tan Leong Teck	1,252	22.50
					Labour Front	Khew Pee Ging	909	16.34
Sembawang	10,675	6,835	64.03		Independent	Ahmad bin Ibrahim	4,281	63.24
					Progressive Party	Lee Kim Kee	2,488	36.76
Serangoon	8,402	4,792	57.03		Progressive Party	Lim Choon Mong	2,172	45.83
					Democratic Party	Lim Chye Seng	1,412	29.80
					Malayan Chinese Association	Lim Siew Ek	1,155	24.37
Southern Islands	3,548	2,476	69.79		Malay Union	Mohamed Sidik bin Abdul Hamid	1,233	50.57
					Progressive Party	Hollupatherage James Caldera Kulasingha	1,205	49.43
Stamford	13,207	6,322	47.87		Labour Front	Jumabhoy Mohamed Jumabhoy	2,691	43.08
					Independent	T. A. Simon	1,281	20.51
					Progressive Party	Nazir Ahmad Mallal	1,153	18.46
					Democratic Party	Ng Sen Choy	1,121	17.95
Tanglin	16,177	7,125	44.04		Progressive Party	John Anthony Moore Ede	3,214	45.67
					Democratic Party	Lim Yong Bock	2,501	35.54
					Labour Front	Lim Seow Chuan	1,322	18.79
Tanjong Pagar	13,430	7,737	57.61		People's Action Party	Lee Kuan Yew	6,029	78.33
					Progressive Party	Peter Lim Seck Tiong	908	11.80
					Democratic Party	Lam Thian	760	9.87
Telok Ayer	11,547	4,951	42.88		Independent	Rajabali Jumabhoy	1,945	39.90
					Democratic Party	Sng Siak Hwee	1,453	30.30
					Labour Front	Tan Ewe Chee	1,660	29.80
Tiong Bahru	12,664	5,939	46.90		Democratic Party	William Tan Ah Lek	2,264	38.60
					Progressive Party	Foo Few Ting	2,100	35.80
					Malayan Chinese Association	Teo Seng Bee	1,502	25.60
Ulu Bedok	16,903	9,464	55.99		United Malays National Organisation	Abdul Hamid bin Jumat	5,721	61.04
					Democratic Party	Toh Seng Sit	2,999	32.00
					Progressive Party	Abdul Hamid bin Rahmat	652	6.96
Whampoa	12,345	6,523	52.84		Labour Front	Chew Swee Kee	2,961	45.88
					Progressive Party	Thio Chan Bee	2,565	39.75
					Democratic Party	Lee Kok Liang	927	14.37
Source: ELD, Singapore Elections

• List of Singaporean electoral divisions (1955–59)

• Sr, Pugalenthi (1996) Elections in Singapore VJ Times International Pte Ltd, Singapore ISBN 981-221-025-3

• General Elections 1955 Singapore Elections
• Results of 1955 election in Singapore