were introduced in this general election to ensure ethnic minority representation in Parliament, starting with three joint constituencies. This was the last time Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew led the PAP in an election and another two stalwarts, former Deputy Prime Minister Dr Toh Chin Chye and Senior Minister S. Rajaratnam, retired for the PAP's renewal process. This was also the first election where changes to electoral boundaries were approved by the Prime Minister's Office instead of tabling a bill in Parliament to approve changes. Two seats were vacated in 1986 but neither held its by-elections - Workers' PartyMember of Parliament and leader J. B. Jeyaretnam and PAP incumbent Teh Cheang Wan, vacated its seats due to conviction over falsified party accounts, and suicide over investigations for corruption, respectively. WP absorbed the two parties, Barisan Sosialis and Singapore United Front to become the largest opposition party and also allied with the Malay party PKMS as one faction. The election also saw the debut of WP candidate Low Thia Khiang, who would went on to win Hougang Single Member Constituency on the next election, and become the party's secretary-general and one of the longest-serving opposition leader until 2020. With the Singapore Democratic Party leader's Chiam See Tong sole victory in the seat of Potong Pasir, two Non-Constituency MP seats were offered to former solicitor-general and Law Society president, Francis Seow and veteran politician Dr Lee Siew Choh, both of which were standing under the WP ticket in Eunos Group Representation Constituency; their campaign was notable for criticizing PAP for alleged dubious financial circumstances; in response Minister of StateTay Eng Soon went to lead their PAP team for Eunos. Despite losing by a narrow margin of 49.1%-50.9%, WP were eligible for the NCMP; however, Seow fled the country on 17 December to avoid arrest and was disqualified from the post while Lee took up the offer and became Singapore's first NCMP, marking Lee's return to Parliament after 25 years since his last stint as a PAP and BS legislator. Once again, there was a significant increase of election deposit. In November 1990, two years after the election, the Nominated MP scheme was implemented to introduce non-partisan voices into the legislature. Although the law allowed up to six NMPs, two were appointed at the start and served for a year before the Parliament term ended.
Timeline
Electoral boundaries
1988 was the first election in Singapore's history to introduce the Group Representation Constituency scheme, which were formed with series of three constituencies/divisions with at least one minority member representing to ensure ethnic minority representation in Parliament, thus cumulating the effects with Plurality-at-large voting. Additionally, single member constituencies were either formed from or absorbed to neighboring constituencies due to development and electorate, which was shown in the table below:
Voter turnout was 94.7%, although this figure represents the turnout among the 1,449,838 voters in 70 constituencies to be contested, with PAP candidates earning walkovers in the other 11 which had 219,175 voters.
