LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY GENERAL ELECTION 1955

This first LA election was held under the framework of the new Rendel Constitution, which saw elected seats increased again, by nearly three times, with the British appointing fewer seats. PP, representing the English-speaking bourgeois and DP, the Mandarin-speaking bourgeois, fielded the largest number of candidates. UMNO and MCA came together as an alliance in tandem with their Malaya counterparts, along with SMU that did not provide a candidate. To the chagrin of the British expecting a PP victory and leader Tan Chye Ching to emerge Chief Minister, it was LF that won the largest number of seats and its Chairman, David Marshall, became Singapore's first Chief Minister. LF formed a coalition with the UMNO-MCA alliance but nevertheless, was still short of a majority. In order to achieve this, the British appointed two LF members among the four nominated seats. In its debut election, PAP, led by PP volunteer in the last GE, Lee Kuan Yew, fielded only a handful of candidates to protest against the Rendel Constitution and it became the main opposition party after capturing three seats and adding one more from a PAP-supported independent candidate who re-aligned himself to PAP after the GE.

Nomination day: 28 February 1955 [Mon]
Polling day: 2 April 1955 [Sat]
Assembly commencement: 22 April 1955 [Fri]

Total voters: 300,199
Total voter turnout: 158,075 (52.7%)

Election deposit: $500