Singaporean general election, 1959

General elections were held in Singapore on 30 May 1959. They were held under the new constitution and the first in which all 51 seats in the Legislative Assembly were elected. This was the first election victory for the People's Action Party (PAP), as they won a landslide victory with 43 seats, and the party has since remained in power after the elections.

Background
David Marshall, the politician who led the ruling Labour Front after winning the previous general election in 1955, was vocally anti-British and anti-colonialist, and the British found it difficult to come to an agreement or a compromise about a plan for self-government; Marshall resigned from the party a year later, pledging that he would either achieve self-government or to resign. In his place, Lim Yew Hock pursued an aggressive anti-communist campaign and manage to convince the British to make a definite plan for self-government.

The Constitution of Singapore was revised accordingly in 1958, replacing the Rendel Constitution with one that granted Singapore self-government and the ability for its own population to fully elect its Legislative Assembly. Previously under the Rendel Constitution, drawn up in 1955 by a commission led by George William Rendel, the Legislative Assembly and its leaders could not fully be determined by the population; the British government appointed seven of the 32 members, with the remaining 25 seats elected by the public, albeit with limited suffrage. This itself was an improvement from the pre-1955 Legislative Council, electing nine members to the council.

This election was the first election after its full internal self-government granted by the British authorities; Singapore was now a recognised state, but was yet to gain full independence since the British still have external affairs such as the military and foreign relations. Due to the removal of suffrage restrictions, voting was implemented to be compulsory for the first time, and had done so in every election since 1959.

Electoral system
The 51 seats of the Legislative Assembly were elected from single-member constituencies.

The assembly dissolved on 31 March 1959; candidates were nominated on 25 April, and the electorates go to the polls on 30 May.