Group+1-+1948+Elections

__**1948 GENERAL ELECTIONS (SINGAPORE)**__
DATE EVENT 1 Feb Election announced 15 Feb Nominations due 21 March Election day
 * Timeline of key events**

- SPP (Singapore Progressive Party - first party to appear in singapore politics) - Independents (people not affiliated to any political party) - Legistative Council
 * Main Political Parties**
 * SPP was formed in 1947, and made up of mostly english-educated people. Most of tehm were well-to-do people, such as lawyers and university graduates
 * As the main party in the Legislative Council, the S.P.P. worked closely with the British to make certain changes. For example, it got the British government to agree to treat local civil servants in the same way as European civil servants. The top posts, however, remained in British hands. The S.P.P. was not in a hurry to press the British for more. It believed in working for self-government at a slow and steady pace because it thought that the majority of the people were not interested in self-government.
 * Created by three founders, namely Tan Chye Cheng, John Laycock and Nazir Ahmad Mallal, all three founders were educated at the University of London
 * Dissolved in: 10 May 1956
 * Out of the 6 seats in the Legislative Council, 3 seats were won by the Independents, one of them was Sardon Bin Haji Zubir, who was the Independent who received the highest number votes out of the group of Independents who participated in the elections
 * assisted the government in making the laws
 * officially came into existence in 1946 when the Straits Settlements was abolished
 * partially opened for public voting in 1948

- Parties had no fixed standard symbol - Candidates had to ballot for the party offered by the elections office - Singapore Progressive Party was the only contesting party - Voting was not compulsory --->A privilege to only "British subjects" (only about 2% of population of over 940,000 residents) - Only 13, 800 voted out of 22,334 registered voters and out of 940 000 residents
 * Major issues**

Seats being contested: 6 Singapore Progressive Party (SPP) - 3 seats Independent candidates – 3 seats
 * Results of the 1948 elections**

Source: http://www.singapore-elections.com/leco-1948-ge/votes.html VOTES

Total valid votes: 23,751 (94.7%) Total rejected votes: 1,321 (5.3%)
 * Party || Obtained || Obtainable || % of total || % of valid ||
 * [[image:http://www.singapore-elections.com/images/pp0.jpg caption="Progressive Party" link="http://www.singapore-elections.com/political-parties/pp.html"]] || 11,754 || 22,607 || 49.5 || 52.0 ||
 * [[image:http://www.singapore-elections.com/images/ind.jpg caption="Independents" link="http://www.singapore-elections.com/political-parties/independent.html"]] || 11,997 || 23,751 || 50.5 || 50.5 ||