Anson Constituency

Not to be confused with the later Anson Single Member Constituency.

Anson
Former Single Member constituency for the Parliament of Singapore
Region	Singapore
Former constituency
Created	1959
Abolished	1988
Seats	1
Member(s)	Constituency Abolished

Anson Constituency was a constituency in Singapore. It used to exist from 1959 to 1988. A huge portion was merged into Tiong Bahru Group Representation Constituency while another small portion was merged into Tanjong Pagar SMC in 1988.

History

Anson Constituency was created in 1959. It was first won by the PAP However, David Marshall from the newly created Worker's Party would win it in the 1961 Singaporean by-elections with 43% of the votes and represent Anson until his party lost in the 1963 Singaporean general election.

Between 1963 to 1981, Anson was largely uncontested with small minority parties contesting it time to time.

In 1981, incumbent MP and NTUC Unionist, Devan Nair resigned from the PAP and the Parliament to accept the then largely ceremonial office of President as the country's head of state. This resulted in the third time Anson had a by-election. Nominations for the by-election started on 21 October. Three candidates were nominated for the by-election: PAP had Pang Kim Hin, the nephew of former minister Lim Kim San; Workers' Party (WP) secretary-general J.B. Jeyaretnam; and United People's Front Harbans Singh. Chiam See Tong, who recently founded Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) a year prior to the by-election, expressed interest but withdrew later and backed Jeyaretnam.

The by-election was eventually won by Jeyaretnam of WP, breaking PAP's monopoly of full dominance in Parliament, the first time in Singapore since 1968 an opposition party had won a parliamentary seat.

Between 1981 to 1984, Jeyaretnam was the only Opposition MP in Parliament. He will go on to be MP for Anson and also win with increased votes in the 1984 Singaporean general election along with SDP's Chiam See Tong in Potong Pasir SMC.

However, Jeyaretnam will only serve as MP for Anson for only 5 years until 1986 when he had to vacate his seat due to pressed charges. After he served his sentencing, he was barred and not allowed to return to his seat.

No By-Elections were called for the vacated seat for 2 years and no one represented Anson between 1986 and 1988.

In 1988, the constituency was dissolved following the establishment of Group representation constituency (GRC) and Single Member Constituency (SMC).

Member of Parliament

Year	Member of Parliament	Party
Legislative Assembly of Singapore
1959	Baharuddin bin Mohamed Ariff		PAP
1961	David Marshall		WP
1963	Perumal Govindaswamy		PAP
Parliament of Singapore
1968	Perumal Govindaswamy		PAP
1972
1976
1979	Devan Nair
1980
1981	Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam		WP
1984

Electoral results

Note : Elections Department Singapore do not include rejected votes for calculation of candidate's vote share. Hence, the total of all candidates' vote share will be 100%.

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Anson

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	PAP	Baharuddin bin Mohamed Ariff	5,167	60.7
	SPA	Goh Kong Beng	1,875	22.0
	LSP	Tan Cheng Chuan	1,231	14.5
	Independent	Wong Swee Kee	117	1.4
	Independent	Krishaan Pakirisamy	116	1.4
Majority			3,292	38.7
Turnout			8,608	86.8
	PAP win (new seat)

Elections in the 1960s

By-election of 15 July 1961: Anson

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	WP	David Marshall	3,598	43.3	N/A
	PAP	Mahmud bin Awang	3,052	36.7	24.0
	SA	Chee Phui Hung	1,482	17.8	4.2
	LSP	Mohammed Ismail bin Haji Mohammed Hussain	104	1.3	13.2
	Singapore Congress	Mohammed Ibrahim bin Mohd Kassim	69	0.8	0.8
Majority			546	6.6	32.1
Turnout			9,566	97.5	10.7
	WP gain from PAP		Swing

General Election 1963: Anson

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Perumal Govindaswamy	3,957	46.9	10.2
	BS	Chan Chong Keen	3,123	37.0	N/A
	SA	Arthur K. Iasac	543	6.4	11.4
	Independent	David Saul Marshall	416	4.9
	UPP	V. Vythalingam	306	3.6
	WP	Chiang Seok Keong	91	1.1	42.2
Majority			834	9.9
Turnout			8,506	92.5
	PAP gain from WP		Swing	N/A

General Election 1968: Anson

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Perumal Govindaswamy	Unopposed
Registered electors			8,764
	PAP hold

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1972: Anson

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Perumal Govindaswamy	5,027	74.3	N/A
	WP	Tay Kim Oh	1,291	19.1	N/A
	United National Front	Paul C. Kunjaraman	444	6.6	N/A
Majority			3,736	55.2	N/A
Turnout			6,899	84.4	N/A
	PAP hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1976: Anson

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Perumal Govindaswamy	Unopposed
Registered electors			12,755
	PAP hold

By-election 1979: Anson

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Devan Nair	8,127	86.2	N/A
	DPP	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

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1980: Anson

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Devan Nair	11,564	84.1	2.1
	UPF	P.M. Thevar	2,187	15.9	N.A.
Majority			9,377	68.2
Turnout			14,224	94.3	8.1
	PAP hold		Swing	2.1

By-election 1981: Anson

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	WP	J.B. Jeyaretnam	7,012	51.9	N/A
	PAP	Pang Kim Hin	6,359	47.1	37.0
	UPF	Harbans Singh	131	1.0	14.9
Majority			653	4.8	N/A
Turnout			13,746	94.7	0.3
	WP gain from PAP		Swing	N/A

General Election 1984: Anson

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	WP	J.B. Jeyaretnam	9,909	56.8	4.9
	PAP	Ng Pock Too	7,533	43.2	3.9
Majority			2,376	13.6
Turnout			17,764	96.1
	WP hold		Swing