01 / 01
The 2006 parliamentary general election was held on 6 May. It was called after parliament was dissolved on 20 April.[1] There were 84 seats available for contestation in this election, of which 75 were from 14 Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) and nine from single-member constituencies.[2] On 27 April nomination day, four opposition parties filed nomination papers to contest 47 parliamentary seats. Hence, for the first time since the 1988 general election, the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) was not returned to power on nomination day. A total of 94 party candidates were fielded to contest in this election. The parties contesting were the PAP (47 candidates), Workers’ Party (20 candidates), Singapore Democratic Alliance (20 candidates) and the Singapore Democratic Party (7 candidates).[3]
It was another landslide victory for the PAP, which captured 82 of the 84 seats and 66.6 percent of the valid votes cast. This was an indication of the strong endorsement given to Lee Hsien Loong in his first general election since taking over as prime minister from Goh Chok Tong in August 2004.[4] Chiam See Tong of the Singapore Democratic Alliance was given his sixth straight win in Potong Pasir, and Low Thia Kiang of the Workers’ Party was re-elected to a fourth term as member of parliament for the Hougang constituency.[5] The Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) post was given to Sylvia Lim, who had led the Workers’ Party team that contested against the PAP in Aljunied GRC.[6]
References
1. Zuraidah Ibrahim. (2006, April 21). Polling day: May 6. The Straits Times, p. 1. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
2. Chua, V. (2006, March 4). Battle-lines redrawn... Today, p. 1. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
3. Zuraidah Ibrahim. (2006, April 21). 47 seats to be contested. The Straits Times, p. 1. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
4. Zuraidah Ibrahim. (2006, May 7). PM gets his strong mandate. The Straits Times, p. 1. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
5. Kwek, K, et. al. (2006, May 7). WP’s Low claims resounding win in Hougang. The Straits Times, p. 3. Retrieved from NewspaperSG; Peh, S. H., & Rajan, T. (2006, May 7). Chiam chalks up sweet victory in Potong Pasir. The Straits Times, p. 3. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
6. Duffy, A. (2006, May 23). New member in the House. The Straits Times, p. 3. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
Rights Statement
The information in this article is valid as at 2011 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.