April 1949 Singapore Municipal Commission election

April 1949 Singapore Municipal Commission election

2 April 1949 December 1949 →
18 elected seats in the Municipal Commission
First party Second party   Leader Tan Chye Cheng Francis Thomas Party Progressive Labour Leader's seat Did not contest Did not contest Seats won 13 1 Popular vote 8,782 1,894 Percentage 59.68% 12.87%

The April 1949 Singapore Municipal Commission election took place on 2 April 1949 to elect 18 of the 27 seats in the Singapore Municipal Commission.^[1]

The election was the first election for the Singapore Municipal Commission since the municipal commissioner elections on 5 December 1911.^[2] In 1913, elections for the Singapore Municipal Commission were scrapped due to excessive politicking.^[1]

Following the end of World War II, elections were brought back for the Singapore Municipal Commission.^[1] Out of the 27 seats in the Singapore Municipal Commission, 18 seats were elected.^[1] These 18 seats were distributed to six wards in Singapore with each ward having three seats.^[1] The remaining nine seats were appointed by the British colonial government.^[1]

For the April 1949 election, municipal commissioners were elected to terms of varying lengths depending on their ranking in their respective wards.^[1] Commissioners who ranked third in their wards were elected to a term that ended in December 1949. Commissioners who ranked second had a term that ended in December 1950, and commissioners ranking first had a term that ended in December 1951.

Voting in this election was not compulsory, and voters were required to register in order to vote.^[1]

Nomination day was scheduled for 7 March 1949.^[1] Candidates were required to give an election deposit of $250 which was returned if they achieved at least 4.17% of the votes.^[1]