Region Northeastern Singapore Created 1968 Town Council Jalan Besar | Electorate 17,407 Member(s) Sitoh Yih Pin Founded 1968 | |
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Potong Pasir Single Member Constituency (Chinese: 波东巴西单选区; Malay: Kawasan Undi Perseorangan Potong Pasir; Tamil: பொத்தோங் பாசிர் தனித்தொகுதி) is a Single Member Constituency (SMC) in the central region of Singapore. Established in 1968, this constituency encompasses the town of Potong Pasir, the part of Toa Payoh encompassed by Lorong 8 Toa Payoh, the Sennet and Tannery private estates, as well as the upcoming Biddadari estate. The People's Action Party (PAP)'s Sitoh Yi Pin has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Potong Pasir SMC since 2011.
History
The constituency's most famous MP is Mr Chiam See Tong, currently leading 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) in the 1984 general election.
Between 2001 and 2011, this seat was one of only two opposition seats in the Parliament of Singapore (the other being Hougang SMC, held by the Workers' Party's Low Thia Khiang). Since Chiam entered Parliament in 1984, this makes him the longest-serving opposition MP in Singapore's history.
The seat was 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.
In 2011, Chiam, as well as Low, experimented with leading a team to contest a nearby GRC (in Chiam's case, the Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC). Unlike Low and his party (who won both the GRC they contested as well as his original seat), Chiam and his party were defeated by the PAP in both constituencies. Not only were Chiam and his team defeated in Bishan-Toa Payoh, they also lost Potong Pasir to the PAP's Sitoh, who defeated Chiam's successor (and wife), Lina Loh Woon Lee on a marginal percentage of 0.72%. After that election, Mrs Lina Chiam became a Non-constituency MP (NCMP), having been the best performing loser at the polls.
In 2015, Sitoh retained his seat, this time with 66.41% of the votes, again defeating Mrs Lina Chiam. This marked the end of Mrs Lina Chiam's term as an NCMP, since she was no longer the best performing loser at that year's polls. This also marked the end of the SPP's presence in Parliament.