A by-election was held on 29 June 1957, with nomination day occurring on 18 May 1957 in the Cairnhill, and Tanjong Pagar constituency. When talks with the British authorities for self-governance broke down, Chief Minister David Marshall decided to resign from the Labour Front on 7 June 1956. Marshall had also challenged opposition leader Lee Kuan Yew from the People's Action Party to resign and recontest his Tanjong Pagar constituency as well, which he did.
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2 seats to the Legislative Assembly of Singapore | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 29,563 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 12,874 (43.55%)  11.16% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Labour Front's replacement candidate Keng Bang Ee lost the seat to the new Liberal Socialist Party, while Lee retained his seat in Tanjong Pagar.
The by-election had a voter turnout of merely 43.55%, the lowest of any elections during the period between 1948 and 1959. With the introduction of compulsory voting in 1959, the turnout of 43.55% remains the lowest for any elections in Singapore's history.
Election Deposit
editThe election deposit was stated at $500.
Results
editCairnhill
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LSP | Soh Ghee Soon | 2,342 | 40.28 | N/A | |
| Independent | Goh Kong Beng | 1,281 | 22.03 | N/A | |
| LF | Keng Ban Ee | 1,118 | 19.23 | 28.35
| |
| Malay Union | Tengku Muda Muhamed bin Mahmud | 983 | 16.90 | N/A | |
| Independent | Mirza Abdul Majid | 91 | 1.56 | N/A | |
| Majority | 1,061 | 18.25 |  7.09
| ||
| Turnout | 5,889 | 39.79 | 12.04
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| LSP gain from LF | Swing | N/A | |||
Note 1: As Mirza Abdul Majid had failed to secure 12.5% of the votes, he had his election deposit forfeited.
Note 2: In 1957, Singapore Malay Union (SMU) was expelled by its alliance partners consisted of UMNO and MCA for fielding a candidate in this by-election which was the reason for the elections department of Singapore to view Tengku Muda as another independent candidate.
Tanjong Pagar
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PAP | Lee Kuan Yew | 4,707 | 68.13 | 10.20
| |
| LSP | Chong Wei Ling | 1,315 | 19.03 | N/A | |
| Independent | Koh Choon Hong | 887 | 12.84 | N/A | |
| Majority | 3,392 | 49.10 | 17.43
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| Turnout | 6,985 | 47.32 | 10.29
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| PAP hold | Swing | N/A | |||