1957 Singapore City Council election

1957 Singapore City Council election

21 December 1957
All 32 seats to the City Council 17 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Lee Kuan Yew Felice Leon-Soh Lim Yew Hock Party PAP LSP LF Leader's seat Did not contest Did not contest Did not contest Seats won 13 7 4 Seat change New New New Popular vote 49,500 56,204 25,711 Percentage 30.61% 34.76% 15.90%
Elected Mayor Ong Eng Guan PAP

The 1957 Singapore City Council elections was the first time that all appointed seats were scrapped, and all seats were opened for direct popular voting. Nomination day was on 18 November 1957, with voting held on 21 December in the same year.

A total of 32 seats were contested. Also up for contention, was the new office of Mayor of Singapore, which would be awarded to the leader of the political party with the majority of seats won.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Liberal Socialist Party	56,204	34.76	7	New
	People's Action Party	49,500	30.61	13	New
	Labour Front	25,711	15.90	4	New
	Workers' Party	11,896	7.36	4	New
	United Malays National Organisation	7,832	4.84	2	+2
	Independents	10,560	6.53	2	–1
Total		161,703	100.00	32	+14
Valid votes		161,703	97.76
Invalid/blank votes		3,701	2.24
Total votes		165,404	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		504,291	32.80
Source: Singapore Elections

By constituency

Under First-past-the-post voting, six candidates (out of the 14 multi-cornered contests) are elected to the council with under a simple majority (50%) of the valid votes cast. The results for Sepoy Lines came with then a record of the narrowest election margin to date at about 0.4%, which would later be surpassed by the River Valley Constituency's 0.05% margin in the 1959 Singaporean general election, two years later. PAP's Chan Choy Siong in Kreta Ayer won the best margin in the election with 86.8% of the votes cast, while the worst-performing candidate for the election was T. R. Fernandez, who garnered 258 votes, 4.2% of the valid votes cast in Delta. Only four candidates had garnered under 12.5% of their vote share and had their $250 election deposit forfeited.

Constituency	Electorate	Party		Candidate	Votes	%
Aljunied	15,033		Liberal Socialist Party	Wee Swee Hong	1,855	46.7
			Labour Front	Sim Swee Seng	1,344	33.8
			Independent	Tan Jin Hong	777	19.5
Anson	15,637		People's Action Party	John Mammen	2,764	53.9
			Liberal Socialist Party	Sundarajulu Lakshmana Perumal	2,363	46.1
Bras Basah	16,274		People's Action Party	Sze Yih Hwa	3,345	64.7
			Liberal Socialist Party	Hwang Cheng Peng	1,826	35.3
Bukit Merah	12,768		Independent	Govindasamy Gopal	1,465	38.6
			Liberal Socialist Party	Pang Tong Khiam	1,253	33.0
			Labour Front	Ahmad bin Ismail	1,079	28.4
Cairnhill	14,148		Workers' Party	O. Subramaniam Rengasamy	1,406	34.4
			Liberal Socialist Party	Tan Sim Hong	1,373	33.6
			Labour Front	P. Ramasamy	1,313	32.1
Crawford	15,547		People's Action Party	Baharuddin bin Mohamed Ariff	4,355	67.0
			Liberal Socialist Party	Lee Thiam Chuan	1,220	18.8
			Independent	Neo Tai Kim	923	14.2
Delta	16,916		Workers' Party	John Cruz Corera	3,391	54.9
			Liberal Socialist Party	Peck Boon Kang	1,273	20.6
			Labour Front	Tan Jin Hong	1,251	20.3
			Independent	T. R. Fernandez	258	4.2
Farrer Park	13,826		Independent	Karuppiah Nalliah	1,335	29.8
			Liberal Socialist Party	Vetrivelu Rengaswamy	1,141	25.5
			Labour Front	Mariappan Verappan	1,074	24.0
			Independent	Soo-Tho Siu Hee	933	20.8
Geylang East	17,966		People's Action Party	Kum Teng Hock	3,154	54.0
			Liberal Socialist Party	Lee Kip Hiang	2,051	35.1
			Independent	Ng Cheng Chwee	640	10.9
Geylang West	18,112		People's Action Party	Peter Lau Por Tuck	3,703	79.1
			Liberal Socialist Party	Teo Koh Bee	979	20.9
Havelock	18,422		Labour Front	Lee Hwee Yiow	2,979	54.5
			Liberal Socialist Party	Ang Khye Chia	2,487	45.5
Hong Lim	13,127		People's Action Party	Ong Eng Guan	3,918	82.9
			Liberal Socialist Party	Lee Kok Liang	810	17.1
Jalan Besar	13,416		People's Action Party	Chan Chee Seng	2,430	52.9
			Liberal Socialist Party	Lee Chee Seng	1,660	36.2
			Workers' Party	Cheong Min Chee	501	10.9
Kallang	14,302		Workers' Party	Chiang Yueh Thong	2,704	41.5
			Liberal Socialist Party	Tan Hai Tong	1,831	28.1
			Labour Front	Henry Leong	1,484	22.8
			Independent	Lau Liat Meng	499	7.7
Kampong Glam	15,609		People's Action Party	Hoe Puay Choo	3,615	60.9
			Liberal Socialist Party	Lam Chock Chuan	1,203	20.3
			Independent	Daud bin Mohamed Yunos	1,119	18.8
Kampong Kapor	19,334		People's Action Party	Wee Toon Boon	3,860	51.8
			Liberal Socialist Party	Ng Teik Sim	1,861	25.0
			Independent	Sim Beng Seng	1,735	23.3
Kreta Ayer	16,950		People's Action Party	Chan Choy Siong	3,034	86.8
			Liberal Socialist Party	Lee Ho Kee	460	13.2
Moulmein	12,020		Liberal Socialist Party	Lim Choo Sye	1,890	57.0
			Labour Front	Lam Hock Chye	1,428	43.0
Mountbatten	13,728		Liberal Socialist Party	Felice Leon-Soh	1,818	55.9
			Labour Front	Saul Hugh Zakoo	1,436	44.1
Pasir Panjang	10,274		Liberal Socialist Party	Ong Say Yeo	2,358	58.7
			Labour Front	Ahmad bin Mohamed Yatim	1,660	41.3
Queenstown	11,429		Labour Front	Tang Peng Yeu	2,796	75.0
			Liberal Socialist Party	Leong Poh Seng	934	25.0
River Valley	14,865		Labour Front	Ho Kok Hoe	2,164	52.0
			Liberal Socialist Party	Wong Peng Tuck	1,996	48.0
Rochore	16,333		People's Action Party	Lin You Eng	4,258	63.9
			Liberal Socialist Party	Ong Lip Hua	1,527	22.9
			Independent	Tang Beng Cheong	876	13.2
Sepoy Lines	16,281		Liberal Socialist Party	Manickavasagar Subramaniam	2,904	50.2
			People's Action Party	Kang Meng Kim	2,880	49.8
Stamford	17,860		Labour Front	George Benjamin Armstrong	1,470	53.9
			Liberal Socialist Party	Gopal Krishnan Gosain	1,257	46.1
Tanglin	18,775		United Malays National Organisation	Mohamed Shariff bin Dollah	1,950	42.5
			Liberal Socialist Party	Syed Omar bin Abdulrahman Alsagoff	1,547	33.7
			Labour Front	Lim Siew Chuan	1,091	23.8
Tanjong Pagar	14,721		People's Action Party	Ong Pang Boon	3,354	71.9
			Liberal Socialist Party	Lim Siew Lay	1,311	28.1
Telok Ayer	24,412		Workers' Party	Wang Tsun Hao	3,894	55.6
			Liberal Socialist Party	Chua Keng Eng	2,081	29.7
			Labour Front	Yap Tean Hock	1,034	14.8
Telok Blangah	18,476		United Malays National Organisation	Syed Ali bin Zedha Alsagoff	3,432	51.3
			Liberal Socialist Party	Chua Bock Kwee	3,262	48.7
Tiong Bahru	13,863		Liberal Socialist Party	Lee Bah Chee	2,285	52.0
			Labour Front	Lim Huan Seng	2,108	14.8
Toa Payoh	18,416		People's Action Party	Wong Soon Fong	4,830	62.9
			Liberal Socialist Party	Khoo Siaw Hua	2,846	37.1
Ulu Pandan	15,451		Liberal Socialist Party	Chua Kim Kee	2,542	50.9
			United Malays National Organisation	Ibrahim bin Othman	2,450	49.1
Source: Singapore Elections Archived 10 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• City Council Ordinary Elections 1957
• The Workers' Party of Singapore - History - 1957-1963