PARLIAMENTARY GENERAL ELECTIONS 1997

Main Parliamentary opposition SDP was facing serious internal strife, with former leader Chiam See Tong suing SDP's central executive committee (CEC) for defamation. Prior to nomination day, Chiam resigned from SDP and crossed over to SPP, a party founded by ex-SDP members in 1994. Two opposition candidates came under fire from PAP - Dr Chee Soon Juan, SDP's new leader and Tang Liang Hong, standing on the WP ticket with WP leader J. B. Jeyaretnam, who was accused of being an anti-Christian Chinese chavunist. GRCs were increased from four to four and six members and a HDB "upgrading" carrot was hung up as a pricy stake for voters. Election deposit increased by the same amount. SDP lost all its seats and representation in Parliament since 1984. PAP reversed its electoral decline for the first time in four GEs, recapturing two of four seats it lost in the last round. Losing marginally in Cheng San GRC, Jeyaretnam returned to the House since 1986 as an NCMP while Tang fled the country after being hit with lawsuits by PAP leaders.

Nomination day: Monday, 23 December 1996
Polling day: Thursday, 2 January 1997

Eligible voters: 1,881,011
Voters in walkover constituencies: 1,115,679 (59.3%)
Total voters: 765,332 (40.7%)
Total voter turnout: 734,000 (95.9%)

Election deposit: $8,000 (+33.3%)

RESULTS
Single member constituencies	Group representation constituencies (GRCs)
Ayer Rajah	Aljunied GRC [5]	Marine Parade GRC [6]
Boon Lay	Ang Mo Kio GRC [5]	Pasir Ris GRC [4]
Bukit Gombak	Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC [5]	Sembawang GRC [6]
Chua Chu Kang	Bukit Timah GRC [5]	Tampines GRC [4]
Hougang	Cheng San GRC [5]	Tanjong Pagar GRC [6]
Kampong Glam	East Coast GRC [6]	West Coast GRC [4]
MacPherson	Hong Kah GRC [5]
Nee Soon Central	Jalan Besar GRC [4]
Potong Pasir	Kreta Ayer-Tanglin GRC [4]
Total seats = 83