1976 Singaporean general election

1976 Singaporean general election

23 December 1976

All 69 seats in Parliament
35 seats needed for a majority
Registered1,095,817
Turnout95.08% ( 1.53pp)
  First party
 
Leader Lee Kuan Yew
Party PAP
Last election 70.43%, 65 seats
Seats won 69
Seat change 4
Popular vote 590,169
Percentage 74.09%
Swing 3.66pp

Results by constituency

Prime Minister before election

Lee Kuan Yew
PAP

Prime Minister after election

Lee Kuan Yew
PAP

The 1976 Singaporean general election was held on 23 December 1976 to elect all 69 members to the Parliament of Singapore. This marked the fifth general election since the introduction of self-government in 1959 and the third since Singapore's independence in 1965. The number of parliamentary seats increased from 65 to 69 due to changes in electoral boundaries and the increase in population. Out of the 69 constituencies, 53 were contested, while 16 were won uncontested by the People's Action Party (PAP). A total of 124 candidates participated in the election, including 122 from political parties and 2 independents.

The ruling PAP, led by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, won all 69 seats in another landslide victory, marking its third consecutive clean sweep since 1966. The total electorate surpassed one million for the first time in Singapore's history, but only 857,297 were eligible to vote due to uncontested constituencies. The PAP secured 590,169 of the 796,572 valid votes cast, accounting for 74.09% of the popular vote. Voting, which is compulsory, reached a turnout of 95.08% among the eligible voters in the contested constituencies.

Opposition parties, including the Workers' Party (WP), the Barisan Sosialis (BS), the United Front (UF) and others, contested the election but failed to win any seats. The WP fielded 22 candidates, while the UF fielded 14. Notably, the election saw the political debut of Goh Chok Tong of the PAP and independent candidate Chiam See Tong, both of whom would later become prominent figures in Singaporean politics. The results maintained the PAP's complete control of Parliament and extended its one-party rule since 1968.