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Registered | 14,512 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Turnout | 13,746 (94.72%) ![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The by-election was held in Singapore on 31 October 1981. The by-election was to replace the vacant seat after the incumbent MP, Devan Nair, stood down in order to become President of Singapore.
The result was a victory for J. B. Jeyaretnam from the Workers' Party winning 51.93% of the vote and he was declared as Member of Parliament for Anson Constituency.
The by-election marked the first occasion since Singapore's independence in which a PAP candidate was defeated in an election for a seat in Parliament.[1][2] The 37% swing against the PAP is the largest ever swing in a by-election in independent Singapore, and the second largest since 1961.