Singapore Democratic Alliance

The Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) is a political coalition between the Singapore Malay National Organization (PKMS), and Singapore Justice Party (SJP). The SDA was formed in 2001 and initially consisted of four political parties, PKMS, SJP, National Solidarity Party (NSP) and Singapore People's Party (SPP).

History

2001: Formation

SDA was first established in 2001 by Chiam See Tong as he wanted to provide a common grouping under which different opposition parties could stand as a political coalition in elections against the ruling People's Action Party (PAP). The alliance initially consisted of his party SPP, NSP, SJP and PKMS. It was the first coalition to be formed in post-independence since 1963, after the now-defunct Singapore Alliance Party. Chiam became the first chairman of SDA. The logo of SDA is a star and four interlocking circles.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In the 2001 general election, SDA contested a total of thirteen seats consisting of three SMCs (Bukit Timah, Chua Chu Kang, Potong Pasir), and two 5-member GRCs (Jalan Besar, Tampines). In the 2006 general election, SDA contested a total of twenty seats consisting of four SMCs (Chua Chu Kang, MacPherson, Potong Pasir, Yio Chu Kang), two 5-member GRCs (Jalan Besar, Tampines), and one 6-member GRC (Pasir Ris-Punggol). SDA managed to retain the Potong Pasir SMC seat under Chiam through both elections and obtained one NCMP seat under Steve Chia in the 2001 election.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

2007–2010: NSP left coalition, failed RP proposal to join coalition

In 2007, the NSP pulled out from the SDA in the hope of rejuvenating their party.<ref>[1]Template:Dead link</ref> In 2009, Chiam spoke of the possibility of having Reform Party (RP) to join the SDA.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Later in 2010, Kenneth Jeyaretnam, the secretary general of Reform Party (RP), met with Chiam and discussed for RP to join SDA. RP had set out a list of 11 conditions which Chiam and his wife, Lina Loh, mostly agreed to.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> However, the rest of the leadership of SDA voted not to make a decision on the list of conditions.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> The discussion by the SDA council was leaked to the press and as a result, Jeyaretnam decided not to join the SDA.<ref name=":1" />

In October 2010, Chiam replaced SDA's secretary general, Desmond Lim Bak Chuan, with Mohamad Hamim Aliyas during a central executive committee meeting of the SPP.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref> SPP founder and chairman Sin Kek Tong said that Chiam's move was due to Lim's opposition to RP joining the SDA.<ref name=":2" /> However, in a SDA council meeting held shortly after, the council rejected the decision of Chiam, and Lim remained as the secretary general.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

2011–2019 : Post SPP withdrawal

On 2 March 2011, SPP withdrew from the coalition,<ref>GE: SDA says Chiam pulling SPP out of alliance Template:Webarchive, channelnewsasia.com, 2 March 2011</ref><ref>Chiam pulls party out of alliance Template:Webarchive, Today, 3 March 2011</ref> following the decision by the SDA council to relieve Chiam as chairman, citing frequent "no-shows" at the alliance meetings.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Following the pullout, SDA became a two-party alliance consisting of PKMS and SJP. The chairperson was later succeeded by SJP leader Desmond Lim.

Events that followed the separation of Chiam's SPP from SDA saw the waning of the alliance, where they fell short on winning any of the subsequent elections. In the 2011 general election, the SDA, NSP (which fielded a large slate of candidates), and SPP were unsuccessful: Lim became the only candidate forfeiting his electoral deposit (S$16,000) in the only three-cornered contest in the newly formed Punggol East SMC (a ward carved out from the neighbouring Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, which the alliance also contested); and SDA members who joined as independents contesting in Tanjong Pagar GRC (the election's only uncontested constituency) were disqualified on nomination day.

In the 2013 by-election at Punggol East SMC, Lim contested again, but later conceded defeat during vote counting;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> ultimately, he garnered only 0.53% of the valid votes cast for the election, resulting him as the second candidate in history (after United People's Front candidate Harbans Singh) to have his deposit forfeited on both times,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and consequently set its record-worst score for a candidate in post-independence Singapore.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the 2015 general election, SDA fielded their only team of six in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC, but with no success.

2020–present : Failed proposed joining of coalition

Leading up to the 2020 election, four political parties: Singaporeans First, People's Power Party, Reform Party and Democratic Progressive Party, proposed to form an alliance of their own.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Subsequently, the four parties decided to apply to join the SDA,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but the plan did not materialize.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> SDA had contested the 2020 election, marked as Lim's last election leading the SDA.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> While the party only contested Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, a three-cornered contest arose with the participation of a third political party, Peoples Voice. This was the second time in Singapore's election history that a multi-cornered fight had taken place in a GRC (the first being 1992's by-election under Marine Parade GRC).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> SDA garnered 23.67% of the votes while PV ended up losing their deposits after garnering 12.18%.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On 11 March 2025, Lim announced that he had reversed his earlier decision to step down as chairman of the SDA.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lim was supposed to handover to Harminder Pal Singh. However, due to Harminder's health issue, the Central Executive Committee (CEC) have decided for Lim to continue to lead the Alliance. On 13 April, Lim announced that a new party had joined the alliance<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and subsequently revealed on 23 April that Chia Yun Kai, whose party he created under Most Valuable Party, have yet to be approved by the Registry of Societies, therefore, Chia joined SJP to contest as a SDA candidate to contest for Pasir Ris-Changi GRC in the 2025 general election.<ref> Template:Cite news</ref>

Objectives

SDA wants to address the high cost of living challenges, with the following strategies:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

• Regulate wasteful government spending with an independent oversight agency
• Provide financial support for healthcare and address caregiving needs of the working and sandwiched middle class
• Implement rent control and reimburse property tax credit for small local businesses

Member parties

Current members

• Singapore Justice Party (Founder in 2001)
• Singapore Malay National Organization (Founder in 2001)
• Most Valuable Party (Joined in 2025 after the newest party was founded)

Former members

• National Solidarity Party (Founder in 2001 - 2011, the group eventually left after the 2011 elections)
• Singapore National Front (Founder in 2001 - 2011, the group eventually disbanded after the 2011 elections)
• Singapore People's Party (Founder in 2001 – 2020, the group eventually left after Chiam See Tong stepped down)

Leadership

No	Name	Years
1	Chiam See Tong	2001–2011
2	Desmond Lim	2011–present

Former Members of Parliament

No	Name	Constituency	Length of service (cumulative)
1	Chiam See Tong	Potong Pasir SMC	1984–2011
2	Steve Chia	Non-Constituency Member of Parliament	2001–2006

Electoral performance

Due to an alliance, the number of respective seats and the results combined from the four parties (NSP, SJP, SPP and PKMS) were reflected in the table. NSP left after the 2011 election while SPP left after Chiam See Tong stepped down in 2020.

Parliament

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Seats					NCMPs	Position	Result
				Contested			Total	+/–
				Seats	Won	Lost
2001	Chiam See Tong	75,248	12.03%	13	1	12	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 1	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 2nd	Template:No2
2006		145,628	12.96%	20	1	19	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 3rd	Template:No2
2011	Desmond Lim	55,988	2.78%	7	0	7	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 1	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 7th	Template:N/a
2015		46,550	2.06%	6	0	6	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 8th	Template:N/a
2020		37,237	1.49%	5	0	5	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 9th	Template:N/a
2025		29,109	1.22%	4	0	4	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 7th	Template:N/a

Seats contested

Election	Constituencies contested	Contested vote %<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	+/–
2001	Template:Left5-member GRC: Jalan Besar, Tampines; SMC: Bukit Timah, Chua Chu Kang, Potong Pasir	Template:Center27.6%	Template:N/A
2006	Template:Left6-member GRC: Pasir Ris-Punggol; 5-member GRC: Jalan Besar, Tampines; SMC: Chua Chu Kang, MacPherson, Potong Pasir, Yio Chu Kang	32.5%	Template:LeftTemplate:Nowrap
2011	Template:Left6-member GRC: Pasir Ris-Punggol; SMC: Punggol EastTemplate:Ref	30.1%	Template:LeftTemplate:Nowrap
2015	Template:Left6-member GRC: Pasir Ris-Punggol	27.1%	Template:LeftTemplate:Nowrap
2020	Template:Left5-member GRC: Pasir Ris-Punggol	23.7%	Template:LeftTemplate:Nowrap
2025	Template:Left4-member GRC: Pasir Ris-Changi	32.3%	Template:LeftTemplate:Nowrap

By-election

Election	Leader	Constituency contested	Votes	%	Seats				Result
					Contested		Total	+/–
					Won	Lost
2013	Desmond Lim	Punggol East SMCTemplate:Ref	168	0.53%	0	1	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady	Template:No2

1. Template:Note: Loss of candidate election deposit(s) in contested seat(s)