This is a list of political parties in Singapore, including existing and historical ones. The earliest political parties were established in the lead-up to Singapore first Legislative Council elections in 1948. Singapore is a republic. While the country has a multi-party system, the dominant political party have often been the People's Action Party since 1965, along with the main opposition party, the Workers' Party. Minority governments are uncommon, as elections have not resulted in a hung parliament since independence.
Legislative power is vested in parliament, which consists of the president as its head and a single chamber whose members are elected by popular vote. The role of the president as the head of state has been, historically, largely ceremonial although the constitution was amended in 1991 to give the president some veto powers in a few key decisions such as the use of the national reserves, as well as the appointment of key judiciary, civil service and Singapore Armed Forces posts. They also exercise powers over national security matters.
History
Pre-independence
Amongst the oldest parties, the Malay Union, traced its history back to 14 May 1926, was initially a non-political association as the party only participated in the 1955 election. The Progressive Party and Labour Party, both established in the late 1940s, were some of the pioneering local establishments, with the PP the only party to contest in the first elections in 1948, and the LP coming on board in 1951. By 1955, the fledgling British colony had seven parties contesting, and reached a pinnacle of 13 parties in 1959. A total of three parties were established in the 1940s, 12 in the 1950s and five in the 1960s.
Post-independence
20th century
Post-independence Singapore saw the dominance of the People's Action Party, which first came into power in 1959. On 16 May 1960, a new Societies Ordinance was passed, and in December 1966, local parties were forbidden from being affiliated to foreign ones. This directly impacted the handful of small parties with links to Malaysia, most of which renamed themselves and/or cut formal foreign ties. The PAP's dominance stemming from Singapore's economic advancement further weakened the smaller opposition parties, with a majority of Singaporeans voting for the PAP in subsequent elections.
Still, new parties continued to be established, and to date, there are therefore a total of 30 registered political parties today, of which ten have never contested in an election, 13 parties have officially dissolved with most through mergers with other parties. A few opposition parties, those of Workers' Party and Singapore Democratic Party, had gained some success towards the 80s with the captures of its safe seat of Hougang and Potong Pasir respectively, with the former went with further success heading towards the 21st century.
21st century
Over the years, alliances between political parties existed, however short-lived. Presently, three functioning multi-party alliances were formed, with the oldest surviving political umbrella being the Singapore Democratic Alliance, which was formed on 3 July 2001, initially composed of the Singapore People's Party (SPP), National Solidarity Party (NSP), Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura and the Justice Party, Singapore, with the SPP being the lead party. The vision was to bring all opposition parties under one banner to counter the PAP's dominance, but it was met with limited success due to opposition infighting. The NSP left the alliance in 2007, and in 2010, the SPP itself left when there was internal disagreements over the SPP's attempts to bring in the newly formed Reform Party (RP).
Talks on a formation of alliance sparked prior to the 2020 election when four parties, Singaporeans First, PPP, RP and DPP, planned to create one alliance of their own,[8] but ended up applying for the SDA on 1 April[9] and has never materialized after SingFirst was dissolved and DPP withdrew from participating in that election.[10][11][12] Two other political umbrellas were formed over a span of four months in 2023. In June, People's Alliance for Reform (PAR) was established from the parties of PV, RP, PPP and DPP,[13] though PPP later withdrew from the party months later.[14] In October, The Coalition was established with SPP, National Solidarity Party (NSP), Red Dot United (RDU) and Singapore United Party (SUP).[15]
Legislation
Under the current legislation, all political parties (termed "Political Associations") must be registered under the Societies Act. As such, the following rules pertaining to political associations apply:
All members of political parties must be Singaporean citizens.
Political Association must not be affiliated or connected with any organisation outside Singapore. The fact that a political association uses a name or symbol which is the same as that of an organisation outside Singapore shall be deemed to be sufficient evidence that the political association has an affiliation or connection with that organisation.
The government has the power to dissolve the party if it contravenes the above rules, or any other rule applicable to all forms of registered societies.
Under the Political Donations Act which came into force on 15 February 2001, Political Associations are also barred from accepting any donation in cash or kind from impermissible donors, or from anonymous donors where the value exceeds S$5,000. The government announced[16] that it was to "prevent foreigners from interfering in domestic politics through the financial support for any association's cause", and cited an example of a case in 1959 when S$700,000 was sent to Chew Swee Kee, then Education Minister from the Singapore People's Alliance by a "neighbouring intelligence service in a "black operation" against the interests of Singapore". Another case was also cited pertaining to foreign financial support for Francis Seow of the Workers' Party in 1988.
The People's Action Party donated $20,000 to Australian political parties through (Singtel-owned) Optus in 2010, although the motives and details of the donation remain unverified.[17]
Political parties
There have been a total of 43 political parties (not including Malaysia's parties, those contested in both Malaysia and Singapore elections, or those which contested during Singapore's merger with Malaysia) in Singapore.
Party or Alliance active Party or Alliance active, but collated to another party or alliance Party or Alliance dissolved Party or Alliance registered, but is yet to contest Party or Alliance's status unknown
The candidates and supporters of the various political parties tend to wear the following shirt colours while making their rounds in various wards or campaigning.
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