PARLIAMENTARY GENERAL ELECTION 1976
This was the electoral debut of both Goh Chok Tong, who was to become Singapore's next Prime Minister after Lee Kuan Yew, as well as Chiam See Tong, standing as an independent candidate, who eventually became a renowned opposition Member of Parliament. As the PAP government began to establish a credible track record, some opposition parties adopted a stand in closer sync with people's sentiments that no matter how good PAP was, having opposition MPs in Parliament can serve as a check-and-balance or PAP could become more authoritarian following a long period in power. After the release of the report of the Electoral Boundaries Delineation Committee on 7 May 1976, a bill was tabled on 23 July 1976 to adopt it, which was passed at the second reading on 3 September 1976. There would be ten new wards and six would be dissolved, namely Bras Basah, Crawford, Hong Lim, Kampong Kapor, Sepoy Lines and Stamford. A seat was vacated after PAP Minister of State Wee Toon Boon was convicted of corruption charges and resigned on 15 September 1976. His lawyer, former politician David Marshall, successfully appealed to reduce his sentence from three years to 18 months in prison. No by-election was held as a GE was nearing and Wee's Sepoy Lines constituency was one of those wiped off the map. Four opposition parties, namely Barisan, SJP, PKMS and UF, formed the Joint Opposition Council to cooperate at the polls. Earlier in the year, PAP was summoned by Socialist International over allegations by a Dutch member party that it had been suppressing dissent as the government of Singapore. Represented by C. V. Devan Nair, PAP submitted its resignation from SI on 30 May 1976 before it could be expelled. WP chief J. B. Jeyaretnam took issue with this and PAP leaders accused him of taking sides with foreign powers. For the first time, election deposit increased following a new policy where the amount would be pegged to one-eighth of an MP's annual allowance. After PAP's third clean sweep of all seats, backbenchers were told to play a more robust role in Parliament debates.
3rd Parliament dissolved: 6 December 1976 [Mon]
Nomination day: 13 December 1976 [Mon]
Polling day: 23 December 1976 [Thu]
4th Parliament opening: 7 February 1977 [Mon]
Electorate: 1,095,817
Walkover voters: 238,520 (21.8%)
Eligible voters: 857,297 (78.2%)
Voter turnout: 815,130 (95.1%)
Election deposit: $1,200 (+$700)
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