General elections were held in Singapore on Friday, 10 July 2020 to elect 93 members to the Parliament of Singapore across 31 constituencies. Parliament was dissolved and the general election called by President Halimah Yacob on 23 June, on the advice of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. It elected members of parliament to the 14th Parliament of Singapore since Singapore's independence in 1965, using the first-past-the-post electoral system.
The elections were the eighteenth general elections in Singapore and the thirteenth since independence. The ruling People's Action Party (PAP) secured its 15th consecutive term in government since 1959, setting the second-longest uninterrupted record among countries with universal suffrage of 66 years if the PAP finishes their full term of five years, behind Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party which held power for 71 consecutive years.
The results saw the ruling PAP winning 83 elected seats with the Workers' Party (WP) winning the remaining 10. The Workers' Party successfully retained their wards of Aljunied GRC and Hougang SMC and captured the newly created Sengkang GRC, constituting the most opposition seats in Parliament since 1966. Sengkang GRC was notably the second GRC won by the Workers' Party, the first time the Workers' Party claimed multiple GRCs since the creation of the scheme in 1988, and also the first time a newly created constituency was won by an opposition party on its first attempt.
While the PAP managed to secure another supermajority victory, this election had also led to inroads for non-PAP parties. With the WP polling 50.49% in the 21 seats it contested in a straight fight with the PAP, the 2020 general election marked the first time since 1963 that the ruling PAP lost the popular vote overall in constituencies contested by the WP and the very first time since independence. In addition, it was also the first election whereby there were more than 1 million valid voters that voted against or cast an invalid/blank vote instead of the PAP.
Background.
According to Article 65(4) of the Constitution, the maximum term of any given Parliament is five years from the date of its first sitting following a general election, after which it is dissolved by operation of law. However, the prime minister may advise the President to dissolve Parliament at any time during the five-year period. A general election must be held within three months after every dissolution of Parliament. Elections are conducted by the Elections Department (ELD), which is under the Prime Minister's Office.
There are 93 elected seats in Parliament organised into 14 Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) and 17 Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs). Each SMC returns one Member of Parliament using the first past the post (FPTP) voting system, while each GRC returns four or five MPs through the party block voting electoral system, where at least one of whom must be from the Malay, Indian or other minority communities. A group of candidates wishing to stand for election in a GRC must all be members of the same political party, or a group of independent candidates, resulting in a situation where the victorious party obtains 100% of the seats in a given GRC. The voting age in Singapore is 21 years, with eligibility to voters who were born before 1 March 1999.
On 23 June 2020 at 16:00 Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced during a live televised announcement that President Halimah Yacob had dissolved the 13th Parliament of Singapore on the same day and had issued a writ of election with nominations to be held a week later on 30 June 2020.
The returning officer was Tan Meng Dui, a former deputy secretary at the Ministry of National Development and CEO of the National Environment Agency. This is his first election as Returning Officer, taking over from Ng Wai Choong who had served in this role in the previous general election.
Political parties.
The governing People's Action Party has been in power since 1959 and is currently led by the prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong. The leading opposition party is the Workers' Party led by Pritam Singh, with six elected seats and three NCMP seats before the election. A total of ten opposition parties challenged the ruling party in this election.
Changes in election process.
The Elections Department introduced several new features for this election to help ease the election process for voters, candidates and election volunteers. Registration of voters on polling day will be done electronically and election officials need not manually strike out a voter's particulars from a hardcopy register of electors. Voters will be able to mark their candidate(s) choices more clearly using self-inking pens and enjoy shorter queuing time with the introduction of the e-registration system. Candidates are able to fill in most of the necessary documents online while election volunteers are able to count the number of votes within a shorter duration with the help of counting machines, enabling election results to be released at least 50 minutes earlier. In addition, there will be more polling stations, reducing the average number of voters per polling station from 3,000 to about 2,400. Senior citizens above the age of 65 will be given priority to vote between 8 am and 12 pm on Polling Day.
Election recount can occur if the margin of results for a constituency are within a 2% range (or scores between 49% and 51%). Unlike the previous elections, the recount is now triggered automatically rather than being called out manually from the candidates or counting agents, which was previously seen in 1991 (Nee Soon Central SMC), 2011 (both Presidential and Potong Pasir SMC) and 2015 (Aljunied GRC); additionally, a standby counting machine would be used for recount instead of being manually counted. Similar to past elections, overseas votes is disregarded during a recount of votes as it does not cause any impact from the eventual results, unless if the total overseas electorate is greater than the difference of votes.
Non-constituency Member of Parliament.
On 27 January 2016, an amendment to the Constitution was passed, increasing the minimum number of opposition Members of Parliament by three to 12 members. This is the first increase for the number of opposition MPs allocated since the 2011 Singaporean general election, when it was increased from three members to nine. As in the case for previous elections, NCMP seats are offered to the best-performing non-elected opposition candidates, with the number determined by the total number of opposition candidates elected; if there are at least 12 opposition candidates elected, then NCMP seats will not be offered, as previously seen in the 1991 election. The names of the eligible candidates are announced a few days after the polling day. Candidates may decline the post if offered, as was seen previously in the 1984 and 2015 elections.
Electoral divisions.
The Electoral Boundaries Review Committee is made up of senior civil servants and charged with adjusting the boundaries of electoral divisions prior to an election. The government officially claims this as necessary to ensure minority participation in Parliament amidst demographic changes while ensuring an equitable number of voters represented per MP, though critics have raised allegations of gerrymandering to disadvantage the opposition. As of 2015, there were 16 GRCs and 13 SMCs. Prime Minister Lee convened the committee on 1 August 2019 with instructions to reduce the size of GRCs and increase the number of SMCs. The exact date of formation was revealed only when Pritam Singh asked Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing in a written reply in Parliament.
The Committee released its report on 13 March 2020 with the formation of 17 GRCs and 14 SMCs. For the first time since 1991, six-member GRCs were eliminated and reduced to five. A new Sengkang GRC was formed from portions of the former Punggol East and Sengkang West SMCs and the boundaries of Tampines GRC were altered for the first time since 2001, due to the increase in population in the northeastern area of Singapore. Four new SMCs were also carved out (Kebun Baru, Yio Chu Kang, Marymount and Punggol West), three former SMCs were absorbed into neighbouring GRCs (Fengshan, Punggol East and Sengkang West), while two SMCs (Hong Kah North and Potong Pasir) had their boundaries modified. The remaining SMCs and four GRCs (Aljunied, Holland–Bukit Timah, Jurong and Tanjong Pagar) were left untouched, though the Workers' Party raised questions on the abolition of SMCs that it had previously contested and lost by a narrow margin. The changes saw about 13% of voters being allocated to a new constituency and increased the number of seats from 89 to 93.
The changes made in the electoral divisions are as follows:
Disruptions from COVID-19 pandemic.
During a "Straits Times" forum on 11 March, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said that the timing of the elections could be affected in view of the worsening pandemic. On 25 March, Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean told Parliament that he believed it would be unconstitutional for the President to form a caretaker government unless a state of emergency had been recommended by the Cabinet to the President.
On 28 March, Tan Cheng Bock responded to Teo's comments by saying that the unconstitutional nature of a caretaker government as a result of a postponing a general election would be far more preferred than having a health emergency by exposing millions of Singaporeans to potential COVID-19 infection.
On 7 April, Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing introduced the Parliamentary Elections (COVID-19 Special Arrangements) Bill to Parliament which would allow voters under Stay-Home Notices or Quarantine Orders related to COVID-19 to vote outside of their normal electoral divisions in the upcoming General Election. The Bill was passed by Parliament on 4 May and assented to by the President on 15 May. The Parliamentary Elections (COVID-19 Special Arrangements) Act 2020 came into operation on 26 May.
On 1 July, the Parliamentary Elections (COVID-19 Special Arrangements) Regulations 2020 was made to provide for mobile polling teams at special polling stations and to allow voters who have fever or on COVID-19 stay orders to vote from 7 pm to 8 pm on polling day.
Restrictions on election campaigning.
On 18 June, the ELD introduced temporary measures to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19, such as no rallies and TV screenings pertaining to the election are to be held, instead replacing with e-rallies and a new "Constituency Political Broadcast", and nomination centres will no longer admit members of the public or supporters during nomination day. Walkabouts and campaigning vehicles are still allowed, though safe distancing and minimal physical contact still applies, and candidates are also not allowed to make speeches or physical rallies, including during the campaigning from campaigning vehicles, meaning that there will be no parades held by the candidates after the election, though it can still broadcast any pre-recorded messages.
Restrictions during polling day.
Voters were given a recommended two-hour time slot to cast their vote on Polling Day (from 8 am to 8 pm) on their ballot card as a measure to counter long queues during polling. Measures for safe distancing still apply on polling day. Voters with fever or respiratory symptoms would be denied entry from the polling stations, except during the last hour (7 pm to 8 pm). Voters who are unable to vote because of medical issues, or because they are overseas, will be delisted from the registrar of voters due to mandatory voting, but will not need to pay the $50 fee for reinstating their names. Voters had to use hand sanitizer before voting, and were initially required to wear disposible gloves, but this was later changed due to the requirement causing long queues. Elderly voters above the age of 65 were given a special time slot in the morning. The restrictions caused long queues at polling stations.
For overseas voting (which was held in ten cities, Dubai, London, Tokyo, Beijing, Washington, D.C., Hong Kong, Shanghai, San Francisco, New York City and Canberra), voting was subject to the approval of the authorities in the affected countries, while ELD announced that they would release the arrangements for returning Singaporeans who are issued a mandatory 14-day stay home notice to vote in hotels and reducing the risk of infecting others. These arrangements were later officially announced on 1 July, when the Singapore government announced that special polling stations will be set up in Marina Bay Sands and JW Marriott Hotel Singapore South Beach to accommodate voters serving their stay-home notices in the two hotels.
350 voters who are quarantined at the