2012 Hougang by-election

2012 Hougang by-election
26 May 2012
Registered23,368
Turnout21,978 (94.05%) Decrease 0.31%
  First party Second party
 
Candidate Png Eng Huat Desmond Choo
Party WP PAP
Popular vote 13,460 8,223
Percentage 62.08% 37.92%
Swing Decrease 2.72% Increase 2.72%
MP before election

Yaw Shin Leong
WP

 Elected MP

Png Eng Huat
WP

A parliamentary by-election was held in the Hougang Single Member Constituency (SMC) in Singapore on 26 May 2012. It was held to replace the vacant seat after incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) Yaw Shin Leong was expelled from the Workers' Party (WP) following revelations of his extramarital affairs. This marked the first by-election in almost two decades since 1992 at the Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency (GRC), and the first by-election of the 21st century.

On nomination day, the WP fielded former East Coast GRC candidate Png Eng Huat in hopes to retain their party's safe seat which had been held since 1991. The PAP fielded Desmond Choo, who is running again for that same seat as he did so in the 2011 election.

On polling day, WP Png's won the by-election with a score of 62.08% to PAP's 37.92%, a slight negative swing of about three percentage points compared to the score of 64.80% Yaw received in 2011, but on par with 62.74% the WP got in 2006.

Background

The seat of a Member of Parliament shall become vacant — [...] if he ceases to be a member of, or is expelled or resigns from, the political party for which he stood in the election;

— Constitution of Singapore, Article 46(2)(b)[1]

Whenever the seat of a Member, not being a non-constituency Member, has become vacant for any reason other than a dissolution of Parliament, the vacancy shall be filled by election in the manner provided by or under any law relating to Parliamentary elections for the time being in force.

— Constitution of Singapore, Article 49[1]

Early in 2012, speculation and rumours were spread that Yaw had an alleged extramarital affair with a fellow party member.[2] At a media conference on 15 February 2012, it was revealed that the WP had announced the expulsion of Yaw Shin Leong, then-MP for Hougang SMC, and the party's treasurer.[3][4] Party chairwoman Sylvia Lim told on media that Yaw had been accused on several indiscretions in his personal life and failed to account for his actions to the party despite repeated reminders. Party chief Low Thia Khiang, also the preceding MP for Hougang, told in Chinese that the party have condemned Yaw's misconduct and had breached the party directives.[5][6] Within 30 minutes of 20:37, news reports detailed the mixed reactions among Hougang residents to Yaw's expulsion.[6]

The Clerk of the Parliament then gave Yaw a notice to appeal his expulsion until 24 February.[7] Two days later, Yaw decided not to challenge the appeal, which effectively vacated his seat from Hougang SMC and confirming his removal from the party. Under Article 46(2)(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore, sitting MPs who either removed or resigned from the political party would result in the loss of their MP seats.[8][9] Prior to Yaw's case, the last time a MP had been removed from the party was Chiam See Tong, who was ousted from the Singapore Democratic Party in 1993,[7] but reinstated in December the same year after a ruling by the High Court.[10][11] Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong commented that there is no fixed time within which a by-election must be called,[12] and PAP Chairman Khaw Boon Wan's quote that Hougang voters have been misled by the WP.[13][2][14] Between the time of his removal and the by-election, WP announced that Low and his Aljunied GRC team will act as interim MPs for Hougang.[2]

In the days following the announcement, dialogues between Low, former MP Ho Kah Leong and government press secretary Foo Kok Jwee, were mentioned in the letters columns of the Lianhe Zaobao and The Straits Times, generating mixed reactions of whether if WP had appropriately removed Yaw to preserve their party's integrity and democracy, and brought comparisons to the 1992 by-election, where then the four-member Marine Parade GRC team was intentional on doing so.[15] Commentator Eugene Tan, assistant professor of law at the Singapore Management University School of Law, discussed how the Parliamentary Elections Act applied to the situation. Tan stated that although it was the President who issued the writ for election, it was the Prime Minister who advised on the matter, and that it was thus Lee who effectively controlled the election date. Tan argued that although the Constitution did not impose a timeframe within which a by-election had to be held, it was not the intent that this should allow elections to be postponed indefinitely. The fact that the Constitution is silent on exactly when by-elections should be called should not be taken as permission not to call them at all. "In short," he wrote, "the 'default' position should be that a by-election should be automatic, although there is no hard and fast rule on the timing."[16] Tan also opined that WP should field as its candidate in the by-election someone not already in Parliament, rather than a Non-constituency MP.[16] Tan argued that this state of affairs should not continue for the projected remaining term of the current Parliament of four and a half years. "[...] the cardinal principle of representation is crucial: A stand-in MP is not the same as an MP for whom the majority had voted. Not calling a by-election would undermine the importance of representation in our maturing parliamentary democracy", he wrote.[16] Similarly, Secretary-General of the Singapore Democratic Party Chee Soon Juan stated that it was his party's "primary concern that Hougang remains in the hands of the opposition", declaring that it would therefore not field a candidate that would split the vote.[13]

Confirmation of by-election

On 9 May 2012, President Tony Tan Keng Yam issued a writ of election for the electoral division of Hougang.[17] Nominations were held on 16 May at Serangoon Junior College, and polling took place on 26 May.

With the confirmation of the by-election, Singapore was set to experience its first such contest in nearly 20 years since the 1992 Marine Parade by-election, marking the longest interval between by-elections in the nation's history.

Candidates

On 10 May 2012, each party announced their following candidates:

Candidates Background
Desmond Choo Choo was a member of the People's Action Party, an unionist and a civil servant, and was the nephew of former MP Choo Wee Khiang. Choo earlier debuted in the last year's election, also contesting in Hougang.[18]
Png Eng Huat Png is a company director and a member of the Workers' Party. Png earlier debuted in the last year's election, who contested in the East Coast GRC. That GRC had the narrowest winning margin by PAP among all GRCs in that election.[19]

Two men had applied for political donation certificates but were not nominated as candidates:[20]

Candidates Background
Zeng Guoyuan Zeng was a retired acupuncturist and former Workers' Party (WP) candidate. While Zeng had collected his certificate, he however withdraw from the nomination after being concerned that his prior conviction in 2008 (involving him scolding two police officers, and shifted his blame on his parrot) would render him ineligible. The Elections Department later confirmed that Zeng did not file his nomination papers.[21]
Poh Lee Guan Poh was a Workers' Party (WP) candidate who debut in the 2001 election contesting in the now-defunct Nee Soon East SMC and the Nee Soon GRC in the last election. Poh did collect his certificates but had breached their party directives as he did not consult the CEC prior on doing so. Poh was later condemned by the CEC two months after the by-election, resulting in his expulsion from the party.[22][23]

Results

At 10.30pm (SGT), results were announced by Returning Officer Yam Ah Mee at Holy Innocents' High School where WP's Png retained Hougang SMC with 62.08% of the valid votes, beating PAP's Choo with 37.92%. The overseas vote count was tabulated four days later, adding each candidate another 13 votes (there is only one spoiled vote and 16 abstained from voting).[24]

By-election 2012[25][26]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
WP Png Eng Huat 13,460 62.08 Decrease2.72
PAP Desmond Choo 8,223 37.92 Increase2.72
Majority 5,237 24.16 Decrease5.44
Total valid votes 21,683 98.66 Decrease0.21
Rejected ballots 295 1.34 Increase0.21
Turnout 21,978 93.9 Decrease0.4
Registered electors 23,368 Decrease4.85
WP hold Swing Decrease2.72

See also

References

  1. 1 2 CONSTITUTION 1999.
  2. 1 2 3 Saad, Chan & See 2012.
  3. ↑ Ng 2012.
  4. ↑ Musfirah 2012.
  5. ↑ Lee 2012.
  6. 1 2 Mohandas & Hoe 2012.
  7. 1 2 "Yaw Shin Leong's Parliament seat to be decided Feb 24". Channel NewsAsia. 17 February 2012. Archived from the original on 30 April 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  8. ↑ Saad 2012.
  9. ↑ Ong 2012a.
  10. ↑ Leifer 1995, p. 150.
  11. ↑ Tan 1999, p. 115.
  12. ↑ "No fixed time within which by-election must be called PM Lee - Channel NewsAsia". channelnewsasia.com. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2026.
  13. 1 2 Chan 2012.
  14. ↑ Lim 2012.
  15. ↑ Ong 2012b.
  16. 1 2 3 Tan 2012.
  17. ↑ Elections Department 2012.
  18. ↑ Teo Wan Gek 2012.
  19. ↑ "Workers' Party fields Png Eng Huat as Hougang by-election candidate". sg.news.yahoo.com. 10 May 2012. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  20. ↑ "Hougang by-election: Straight fight between WP's Png Eng Huat and PAP's Desmond Choo". sg.news.yahoo.com. 16 May 2012. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  21. ↑ Tong, Jia Han (17 May 2012). "Zeng blames pet bird for conviction". AsiaOne.
  22. ↑ Ong 2012c.
  23. ↑ "Poh Lee Guan expelled from Workers' Party". Channel NewsAsia. 19 July 2012. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012.
  24. ↑ "TOTAL VOTES CAST AT HOUGANG BY-ELECTION" (PDF). Retrieved 16 April 2025.
  25. ↑ "ELD | 2012 Parliamentary By-election Result". www.eld.gov.sg. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  26. ↑ "Singapore Parliamentary By-Election 2012 > Hougang". www.singapore-elections.com. Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2021.

Cited works

This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.