1992 Marine Parade by-election

The by-election was held on 19 December 1992. The by-election was to replace as Goh decided to hold a by-election in a safe constituency with the best chances of winning for political self-renewal to get people of ministerial calibre to join the government under PAP.

1992 Marine Parade by-election
19 December 1992
Registered73,986
Turnout68,436 (92.50%) Decrease 1.07%
  First party Second party
 
Candidate Goh Chok Tong
Othman bin Haron Eusofe
Teo Chee Hean
Matthias Yao		 Chee Soon Juan
Low Yong Nguan
Mohamed Shariff bin Yahya
Ashleigh Seow
Party PAP SDP
Popular vote 48,965 16,447
Percentage 72.94% 24.50%
Swing Decrease 4.31% Increase 24.50%
  Third party Fourth party
 
Candidate Ken Sen
Tan Chee Kian
Sarry bin Hassan
Yong Choon Poh		 Theng Chin Eng
Yen Kim Khooi
Suib bin Abdul Rahman
Lim Teong Howe
Party NSP SJP
Popular vote 950 764
Percentage 1.42% 1.14%
Swing Increase 1.42% Decrease 21.61%
MPs before election

Goh Chok Tong
Lim Chee Onn
Othman bin Haron Eusofe
Matthias Yao
PAP

 Elected MPs

Goh Chok Tong
Othman bin Haron Eusofe
Teo Chee Hean
Matthias Yao
PAP

This was the first time that a Singaporean Prime Minister vacated his or her own constituency to stand for a by-election thereby producing a risk of Goh losing the premiership in under two years, in the event he lost the by-election.

Fortunately, the People's Action Party (PAP) won with 72.9% of the vote. The team of candidates - led by Goh - were subsequently declared as the MPs for Marine Parade GRC, thus ensuring Goh's retention of his office as Prime Minister.

Background

At the time of this by-election, both Deputy Prime Ministers, Ong Teng Cheong and Lee Hsien Loong, were suffering from cancer. Goh decided to hold a by-election in a safe constituency with the best chances of winning for “political self-renewal” to get people of “ministerial calibre” to join the government under PAP. While Goh, Othman bin Haron Eusofe and Matthias Yao were running again in the same constituency, Lim Chee Onn was replaced with Teo Chee Hean, the former chief of the Singapore navy, for the by-election.[1]

At the 1991 general election, Goh promised to hold a by-election in 12 to 18 months’ time to allow J. B. Jeyaretnam, of the Workers’ Party, to contest a seat in parliament. Jeyaretnam was unable to contest in the 1991 general election due to a parliamentary ban which expired 2 months after the 1991 general election.[2][3]

The by-election took place 11 years after the previous one, which at the time was the longest interval between by-elections. This would be surpassed by the 2012 Hougang by-election, that took place nearly two decades after this by-election.

Election deposit

The election deposit was set at $6000 per candidate. 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 1992: Marine Parade GRC[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
PAP Goh Chok Tong
Othman bin Haron Eusofe
Teo Chee Hean
Matthias Yao		 48,965 72.9 -4.3
SDP Chee Soon Juan
Low Yong Nguan
Mohamed Shariff bin Yahya
Ashleigh Seow		 16,447 24.5 +24.5
NSP Ken Sen
Tan Chee Kian
Sarry bin Hassan
Yong Choon Poh		 950 1.4 +1.4
SJP Theng Chin Eng
Yen Kim Khooi
Suib bin Abdul Rahman
Lim Teong Howe		 764 1.1 -21.7
Majority 30,804 45.9 -8.5
Turnout 68,436 92.5 -1.1
PAP hold Swing -4.3

See also

References
  1. "PM tells why he picked his own ward". Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  2. "Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam". Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  3. "A politically shrewd manoeuvre". Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  4. "1992 PARLIAMENTARY BY-ELECTION RESULT". Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  5. Straits Times (30 June 2020). "Singapore GE2020: All 93 seats to be contested at July 10 election; 192 candidates from 11 parties file papers on Nomination Day".
  6. Straits Times (30 June 2020). "Singapore GE2020: Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC to see three-cornered fight for first time since 1992".
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