Potong Pasir Single Member Constituency

Potong Pasir
Potong Pasir
Single Member constituency; for the Parliament of Singapore
Region	Central Region, Singapore
Electorate	30,897
Current constituency
Created	1968; 57 years ago
Seats	1
Party	People's Action Party
Member(s)	Sitoh Yih Pin
Town Council	Jalan Besar

The Potong Pasir Single Member Constituency is a Single Member Constituency (SMC) in the central region of Singapore. It is managed by Jalan Besar Town Council. The current Member of Parliament of the constituency is People's Action Party (PAP) Sitoh Yih Pin.

History

The constituency's most famous MP is Chiam See Tong, who currently leads the Singapore People's Party. Back when he was with the Singapore Democratic Party, he defeated the People's Action Party's candidate, Mah Bow Tan (who would later become a Cabinet Minister and MP for Tampines GRC) in the 1984 general election, as well as other candidates such as Sitoh Yih Pin and Andy Gan Lai Chiang.

The seat used to be a hotly contested seat in the general elections. In the 2001 general election, Chiam won the seat by 751 votes to Sitoh, clinching 52.4% of the votes. Chiam subsequently improved his winning margin to 55.8% in the 2006 general election.

PAP held

In the 2011 Singaporean general election, Chiam did not contest his seat but lead a team to contest at the Bishan–Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency. Chiam's wife, Lina Loh, became his successor for the constituency and contested for the seat against Sitoh. Loh lost the election on a marginal percentage of 0.72%. As the best performing loser at the polls, Loh was offered the non-constituency MP (NCMP) position and accepted it.

In the 2015 Singaporean general election, Sitoh retained his seat, this time with 66.41% of the votes, again defeating Loh.

Following the release of the EBRC report for the 2020 General Election, the Toa Payoh estates under this SMC were transferred into the 4-member Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC while this constituency in return, took the Joo Seng and Woodleigh neighbourhoods from the neighbouring Marine Parade GRC's Geylang Serai ward, to allow further development. Sitoh would defeated Singapore People's Party Jose Raymond with a vote count of 60.67% vs 39.33%, winning a third term as the incumbent MP for Potong Pasir.

Due to new developments in the Bidadari area under the SMC, the Elections Department Singapore on on 11 March 2025 carved part of the SMC out to merge into a new Marine Parade–Braddell Heights Group Representation Constituency for the 2025 Singaporean general election.^[1]

Member of Parliament

Election	Member
Formation
1968	Sellappa Ramaswamy	PAP
1972	Baptist Ivan Cuthbert
1979	Howe Yoon Chong
1984	Chiam See Tong	SDP
1988
1991
1997		SPP
2001		SDA
2006		SDA
2011	Sitoh Yih Pin	PAP
2015
2020

Electoral results

Note : Elections Department Singapore do not include rejected votes for calculation of candidate's vote share. Hence, the total of all candidates' vote share will be 100%.

Elections in 1960s

General Election 1968: Potong Pasir
Party		Candidate	Votes
	PAP	Sellappa Ramaswamy	Walkover
Majority
Turnout
	PAP win (new seat)

Elections in 1970s

General Election 1972: Potong Pasir
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Ivan Cuthbert Baptist	7,772	66.2	N/A
	WP	Rajaratnam Murugason	3,391	28.9	N/A
	United National Front	Harnek Singh	573	4.9	N/A
Majority			4,381	37.3	−
Turnout			11,990	91.5	−
	PAP hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1976: Potong Pasir
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Ivan Cuthbert Baptist	9,667	74.8	8.6
	WP	Quek Doh Lam	3,252	25.2	8.6
Majority			6,415	49.6	12.3
Turnout			13,255	93.6	2.1
	PAP hold		Swing	8.6

By Election 1979: Potong Pasir
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Howe Yoon Chong	9,056	66.9	7.9
	Independent	Chiam See Tong	4,491	33.1	N/A
Majority			4,565	33.7	15.8
Turnout			13,845	94.2	0.6
	PAP hold		Swing	7.9

Elections in 1980s

General Election 1980: Potong Pasir
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Howe Yoon Chong	5,509	59.0	7.9
	SDP	Chiam See Tong	3,821	41.0	7.9
Majority			1,688	18.0	31.6
Turnout			9,486	94.2	0.6
	PAP hold		Swing	7.9

General Election 1984: Potong Pasir
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDP	Chiam See Tong	10,128	60.3	19.3
	PAP	Mah Bow Tan	6,674	39.7	19.3
Majority			3,454	20.6	38.6
Turnout			17,078	95.3	1.1
	SDP gain from PAP		Swing	19.3

General Election 1988: Potong Pasir
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDP	Chiam See Tong	11,804	63.1	2.8
	PAP	Kenneth Chen Koon Lap	6,893	36.9	2.8
Majority			4,911	26.2	5.6
Turnout			18,697	95.4	0.1
	SDP hold		Swing	2.8

Elections in 1990s

General Election 1991: Potong Pasir
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDP	Chiam See Tong	12,582	69.64	6.5
	PAP	Andy Gan	5,486	30.36	6.5
Majority			7,096	39.2	13.0
Turnout			18,325	95.1	0.3
	SDP hold		Swing	6.5

General Election 1997: Potong Pasir
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SPP	Chiam See Tong	9,709	55.15	14.49
	PAP	Andy Gan	7,895	44.85	14.4
Majority			1,814	10.30	N/A
Turnout			17,884	95.1	0
	SPP gain from SDP		Swing	14.4

Elections in 2000s

General Election 2001: Potong Pasir
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDA	Chiam See Tong	8,107	52.43	2.72
	PAP	Sitoh Yih Pin	7,356	47.57	2.8
Majority			751	4.8	5.6
Turnout			15,463	98.9	3.8
	SDA gain from SPP		Swing	2.8

General Election 2006: Potong Pasir
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDA	Chiam See Tong	8,245	55.82	3.39
	PAP	Sitoh Yih Pin	6,527	44.18	3.4
Majority			1,718	11.6	6.8
Turnout			14,958	94.1	4.8
	SDA hold		Swing	3.4

Elections in 2010s

General Election 2011: Potong Pasir
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Sitoh Yih Pin	7,992	50.36	6.18
	SPP	Lina Chiam	7,878	49.64	6.2
Majority			114	0.8	12.4
Turnout			16,112	93.0	1.1
	PAP gain from SDA		Swing	6.2

General Election 2015: Potong Pasir
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Sitoh Yih Pin	10,581	66.41	16.05
	SPP	Lina Chiam	5,353	33.59	16.05
Majority			5,228	32.10	31.30
Rejected ballots			224	1.39	-
Turnout			16,158	92.82	0.18
Registered electors			17,407
	PAP hold		Swing	16.05

Elections in 2020s

General Election 2020: Potong Pasir
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	PAP	Sitoh Yih Pin	11,264	60.67	5.74
	SPP	Jose Raymond	7,302	39.33	5.74
Majority			3,962	21.34
Rejected ballots			279	1.48
Turnout			18,845	95.51	2.69
Registered electors			19,731
	PAP hold		Swing	5.74

References

^ Koh, Fabian (11 March 2025). "GE2025: Extensive changes to electoral boundaries due to population shifts; only 5 GRCs, 4 SMCs left intact". CNA. Retrieved 11 March 2025.

[1] Koh, Fabian (11 March 2025). "GE2025: Extensive changes to electoral boundaries due to population shifts; only 5 GRCs, 4 SMCs left intact". CNA. Retrieved 11 March 2025.

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