The by-elections were held in April, for five seats in the Parliament of Singapore, after the resignation of Members of Parliament of the People's Action Party (PAP). The end result saw PAP winning every of the seats, three seats without a contest, and the remaining two via contest.
On 30 March 1970, five members from the People's Action Party were simultaneously resigned from the government per the party's renewal process, namely Chan Choy Siong, Lim Soo Peng, Lim Cheng Lock, Lee Teck Lim, and Buang bin Omar Jumid. The by-elections were then adjourned on 18 April.
Previously, prior to the 1968 election, there were mass resignations by each of the 11 (out of 13) members of Barisan Sosialis in the parliament over the course of the 1966 year, who opted to protest and "struggle for democracy" on the streets, had effectively removed all opposition from the parliament. It was only the second time since Independence where a resignation occurred by the governing PAP, after Joo Chiat MP Fong Kim Heng resigned on medical grounds on 18 October 1966.
