This first LA election was held under the new Rendel Constitution after recommendations by a committee to grant local citizens more autonomy, headed by Sir George Rendel, were passed. Locals would share executive power with the colonial authorities and there would be a Chief Minister among elected legislators. Elected seats were increased again, this time to form the majority in the legislature, with the British appointing a lesser seven seats. The Governor and Colonial Secretary posts were replaced by a Chief Secretary, who inherited the power to appoint four nominated Assembly Members. Also scrapped were the seats of the Solicitor-General, two Directors, two Ex-Officios, the three commercial organisations and the City Council representative. For the first time, political parties were permitted to adopt a standard party symbol for all their candidates and independents to select theirs instead of balloting for them. PP, representing the English-speaking bourgeois and DP, the Mandarin-speaking, fielded the most candidates. SMU joined the UMNO-MCA alliance after leaving three-party LF alliance, which had consolidated into a single party. LP was a spent force as both AMs had left the party, with one moving to LF and one going independent. A seat was earlier vacated due to the demise of PP's popular Dr C. J. P. Paglar, who died from a stroke. To the chagrin of the British, whom had anticipated a PP victory and leader C. C. Tan to emerge as CM, it was LF that garnered the most seats and its chairman, David Marshall, thus became Singapore's first CM. LF formed a coalition with the UMNO-MCA-SMU alliance but remained short of a majority. To rectify this, the British appointed two LF members among the four nominated seats. A former legislator nominated through the Indian Chamber of Commerce, R. Jumabhoy, stood for and won a seat. In its debut election, PAP, led by lawyer and former PP election agent Lee Kuan Yew, chose to field only a handful of candidates to protest against the Rendel Constitution and became the main opposition party after winning nearly all its contested seats.
Council dissolution: 5 February 1955 [Sat]
Nomination day: 28 February 1955 [Mon]
Polling day: 2 April 1955 [Sat]
Assembly convention: 22 April 1955 [Fri]
Total voters: 300,199
Total voter turnout: 158,075 (52.7%)
Election deposit: $500
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