Elections to the Parliament of Singapore
General elections in Singapore must be held within three months after five years have elapsed from the date of the first sitting of a particular Parliament of Singapore, as per the Constitution. However, Parliament can also be dissolved and a general election called at the behest of the Prime Minister before the five-year period elapses. The number of constituencies or electoral divisions is not permanently fixed by law, but is declared by the Prime Minister prior to each general election pursuant to the Parliamentary Elections Act (Cap. 218, 2011 Rev. Ed.), which governs the conduct of elections to Parliament, taking into account recommendations of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee.
In Singapore, the Parliament is unicameral. For the 2020 general election, 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 (MP) while each GRC returns between three and six MPs, at least one of whom must be from the Malay, Indian or other minority communities. A group of persons wishing to stand for election in a GRC must all be members of the same political party, or a group of independent candidates. The voting age in Singapore is 21.
The most recent general election was held on 10 July 2020. The People's Action Party (PAP) was returned to power to form the Government with 83 seats, while the Workers' Party (WP) secured ten seats by winning in Aljunied GRC, Hougang SMC and Sengkang GRC.
Electoral process.
The election process begins when the President, acting on Cabinet's advice, issues a writ of election addressed to the returning officer. On nomination day, the returning officer and their representatives will be present at designated nomination centres between 11:00 am and 12:00 noon to receive prospective candidates' nomination papers, and political donation certificates certifying that they have complied with the requirements of the Political Donations Act (Cap. 236, 2001 Rev. Ed.). A person intending to contest in a GRC as a minority candidate must also submit a certificate confirming that they are a person belonging to the Malay, Indian or some other minority community. In addition, between the date of the writ of election and 12:00 noon on nomination day, candidates must lodge with the returning officer a deposit equal to 8% of the total allowances payable to an MP in the preceding calendar year, rounded to the nearest $500, which varies in each election. At the close of the nomination period, if there are multiple candidates in an SMC or more than one group of candidates in a GRC, the election is adjourned for a poll to be taken, otherwise, the election is declared walkover and that the only one candidate in an SMC or the sole group of candidates in a GRC being MP-elects. The returning officer issues a notice of contested election which states when polling day will be; and information such as the names of the candidates, their proposers and seconders, the symbols allocated to candidates, and their passport photos, all of which will be printed on ballot papers, and the locations of polling stations.
Candidates can only mount election campaigns from after the close of nomination up to the day before the eve of polling day. No campaigning is permitted on the eve of polling day itself, which is known as "cooling-off day". Candidates can advertise on the Internet, conduct house-to-house visits, distribute pamphlets, put up banners and posters, and hold election rallies. Political parties fielding at least six candidates are allocated airtime for two pre-recorded party political broadcasts on radio and television, one on the day following nomination day and the other on cooling-off day. The amount of airtime granted depends on the number of candidates each party is fielding. The maximum amount which a candidate or their election agent can pay or incur for an election campaign is currently $4 ($3.50 before 2011) per the electorate in an SMC, or in the case of GRC, the average electorate per the size of the GRC itself.
Polling day at a general election is a public holiday, and voting is compulsory. Unless the returning officer decides otherwise, polling stations are open from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. Voters must go to the polling stations assigned to them. In 2023, the Elections Department introduced a postal voting trial for overseas Singaporeans to cast their votes at overseas missions and government offices. Since 2018, electronic registration has been used to register voters at polling stations. This makes the registration process faster than the previous practice of manually checking and striking off the names against a hardcopy register. After the poll closes, the presiding officer of each polling station seals the ballot box without opening them. Candidates or their polling agents may also affix their own seals to the ballot boxes. The ballot boxes are then taken to counting centres to be opened and the ballots counted. Since 2018, vote counting is conducted by counting machines similar to those used to handle bank notes. This makes the counting process three times faster than the previous practice of manually counting the ballot papers by counting assistants. To curb speculation from unofficial sources, a sample count is typically performed at the start of the counting process to get an indication of the possible electoral outcome. This is based on a random bundle of 100 ballot papers from each polling station in the contested electoral division. A candidate or his counting agent may ask the returning officer for a recount of votes if the difference between the number of votes for the candidate or group of candidates with the most votes and the number of votes of any other candidate or group of candidate is 2% or less, excluding rejected and tendered votes. After all counts, and recounts if any, have been completed, the returning officer ascertains whether the total number of electors registered to vote overseas is less than the difference between the number of votes for the two candidates with the highest number of votes. If so, the returning officer declares the candidate with the highest number of votes to be elected for the electoral division. If not, the returning officer states the number of votes cast for each candidate and the date and location where the overseas votes will be counted.
Composition and term of Parliament.
The Parliament of Singapore is unicameral and consists of three types of Members of Parliament: elected Members of Parliament (MPs), Non-constituency Members of Parliament (NCMPs), and Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs). Of these, MPs are chosen by universal suffrage or popular election under a "first-past-the-post" system, while NCMPs are chosen from among the candidates of political parties not forming the Government.
The maximum duration of each Parliament is five years from the date of its first sitting. If Parliament has not been dissolved before that period has elapsed, it is automatically dissolved by operation of law. However, in most cases Parliament is dissolved and a general election called at the behest of the Prime Minister, who is entitled to advise the President to do so by a proclamation published in the "Government Gazette". The President is not obliged to proclaim that Parliament is dissolved unless he is satisfied that the Prime Minister commands the confidence of a majority of MPs. Once Parliament has been dissolved, a general election must be held within three months.
The number of elected MPs and constituencies or electoral divisions is not permanently fixed by law, but is declared by the Prime Minister prior to each general election pursuant to the Parliamentary Elections Act, which governs the conduct of elections to Parliament, taking into account recommendations of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee. Each constituency may be of Single Member Constituency (SMC) or Group Representation Constituency (GRC). Each SMC returns one MP while each GRC returns between three and six MPs, at least one of whom must be from the Malay, Indian or other minority communities. A group of persons wishing to stand for election in a GRC must all be members of the same political party, or a group of independent candidates.
For the purposes of the 2020 general election, there were 93 electable seats in Parliament organised into 14 SMCs and 17 GRCs. Six GRCs were designated as four-member wards, 11 as five-member wards. 11 GRCs were designated as wards for which at least one member of the Malay community had to be fielded as a candidate, and six as wards for which at least one member of the Indian or some other minority community had to be fielded.
Qualifications for Parliamentary candidates.
Persons are qualified to be elected or appointed as MPs if:
Article 45 provides that persons are not qualified to be MPs if:
A person's disqualification for having failed to properly lodge a return of election expenses or having been convicted of an offence may be removed by the President. If the President has not done so, the disqualification ceases at the end of five years from the date on which the return was required to be lodged or, as the case may be, the date on which the person convicted was released from custody or the date on which the fine was imposed. In addition, a person is not disqualified for acquiring or exercising rights of foreign citizenship or declared allegiance to a foreign country if they did so before becoming a Singapore citizen.
Electors.
To be eligible to vote in a general election in a particular year, a person's name must appear in a certified register of electors of that year. A register of electors is prepared for each electoral division in Singapore. A person is entitled to have their name entered or retained in an electoral register of a certain year if on 1 January of that year they are a Singapore citizen who is ordinarily resident in Singapore, not less than 21 years old, and not subject to any disqualifications. A person not resident in Singapore but entitled to have their name entered or retained in a register of electors for a particular electoral division may apply to be registered as an overseas elector any time before a writ of election is issued for any election in that division.
A person is disqualified from having their name entered or retained in a register of electors if they:
A person is deemed to be ordinarily resident in Singapore on 1 January of a year if they have resided in Singapore for an aggregate of 30 days during the three years immediately preceding 1 January, even if they are not actually resident in Singapore on that date. However, such a person is not entitled to have their name entered or retained in any register of electors if:
The Prime Minister may from time to time, but not later than three years after the last general election, direct that the electoral registers be revised; and may, before a general election, require the registers to be brought up to date by reference to a particular year. After registers have been prepared or updated, they are made available for public inspection to enable people to submit claims to be included in registers or to raise objections concerning the inclusion of other people in the registers. After all claims and objections have been dealt with, the registers are certified as correct.
Election procedure.
Issuance of writ of election.
The election process begins when the President, acting on Cabinet's advice, issues a writ of election addressed to the returning officer, who is the official responsible for overseeing the election. The writ specifies the date when the nomination of candidates is to be taken (which must not be earlier than five days nor later than one month from the date of the writ), and the places of nomination.
The returning officer issues a notice stating that the writ of election has been issued by the President and stipulating the date, time and places for nomination of candidates, the documents that candidates must submit on nomination day, and the amount of the deposit that must be lodged. This notice must be issued at least four clear days before nomination day.
Application for minority certificate.
Any person who wishes to participate in an election as a minority candidate in a GRC must, after the date of notice of the writ of election and at least two clear days before nomination day, apply to