The by-election was held on 10 February 1979 while the nomination day was held on 31 January 1979.
Contents
Background
Similar to 1970 by election, as part of the People's Action Party continuous initiative to renew its ranks, the PAP had invited six instead of five veteran PAP Ministers and Members of Parliament (MPs) to resign. Also, with the demise of Anson's MP P. Govindaswamy, the 1979 by-election is regarded as the biggest-ever by-election in Singapore's history where there are seven seats namely Anson, Geylang West, Mountbatten, Nee Soon, Potong Pasir, Sembawang and Telok Blangah up for grabs. This by election also sees Chiam See Tong made his debut on Potong Pasir who will be the MP for that area on his third attempt in 1984 General elections with his second attempt made on the next year's general election.
Since this is the biggest ever by election in Singapore's history, therefore key opposition stalwarts emerged to contest with the exception of Barisan Sosialis which was then criticised by United People's Front (Singapore) and left the only two constituencies out of seven, namely Nee Soon and Geylang West to be uncontested.
Election deposit
The election deposit was set at $1200. Similar to previous elections, the election deposit will be forfeited if the particular candidate had failed to secure at least 12.5% or one-eighth of the votes.