Anson by- election Landmark by- election in which the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) monopoly of Parliament was broken. Since the 1950s, Anson had been a hotly contested constituency. In 1979, C.V. Devan Nair, then secretary- general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), contested a by- election in the Anson constituency to fill the vacancy left by the death of the PAP’s P. Govindaswamy. Nair retained this seat during the 1980 general election but had to resign it when he was elected Singapore’s third president in October 1981. On 31 October 1981, a by- election was held to fill the vacancy. The two contestants were the PAP’s Pang Kim Hin and J.B. Jeyaretnam of the Workers’ Party. In the first opposition party victory in more than 13 years, Jeyaretnam garnered 7,012 votes or 51.93 per cent of the valid votes cast, to become member of Parliament for Anson. He retained his seat in the 1984 general election but was forced to vacate it in 1986 due to a criminal conviction.

Various explanations have been advanced for the loss of Anson. The PAP might have miscalculated in choosing Pang to face an opposition heavyweight. Some felt that he did not connect effectively with the working- class constituents, and failed to use Anson’s grassroots leaders in his campaign. Some Anson residents, particularly those living in Blair Plain, saw the election as an opportunity to express discontent over the fact that they had not been given priority for Housing & Development Board flats when their old homes were demolished for a new Port of Singapore Authority container complex.

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