PARLIAMENTARY GENERAL ELECTION 1976
This was the electoral debut of Goh Chok Tong, who was to become Singapore's next Prime Minister after Lee Kuan Yew, as well as Chiam See Tong, standing as independent candidate, who would become one of Singapore's longest-serving opposition Member of Parliament. As the PAP government began to establish a credible track record, some opposition parties adopted a stand more in sync with the people's sentiments that no matter how good PAP was, a few opposition MPs in Parliament can serve as its check and balance, or it could become authoritarian after being in power for a long time and abuse its power by amending laws in its favour. Four opposition parties - BS, SJP, PKMS and UF - formed the Joint Opposition Council to cooperate at the polls. A seat was vacated after PAP MP Wee Toon Boon resigned on 15 September 1976 for his conviction under corruption charges. His lawyer was former politician David Marshall, who successfully appealed to reduce his original sentence of three years to 18 months in prison. No by-election was held as it was close to a GE and Wee's Sepoy seat would be delineated. On 23 July 1967, a bill had been tabled based on the 7 May 1976 report by the Electoral Boundaries Delineation Committee, which was passed at the second reading on 14 November 1967. For the first time, election deposit increased following a new scheme where it would be pegged to one-eighth of an MP's annual Parliamentary allowance. This became PAP's third clean sweep of all seats. 3rd Parliament dissolution: 6 December 1976 [Mon] Eligible voters: 1,095,817 Election deposit: $1,200 (+$700)
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