Politics of Singapore

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Politics of Singapore
Coat of arms of Singapore.svg
Coat of arms of Singapore
Polity type Unitary democratic parliamentary republic
Constitution Constitution of Singapore
Legislative branch
Name Parliament
Type Unicameral
Meeting place Parliament House
Presiding officer Seah Kian Peng, Speaker of the Parliament
Executive branch
Head of State
Title President
Currently Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Appointer Direct election
Head of Government
Title Prime Minister
Currently Lee Hsien Loong
AppointerPresident
Cabinet
Name Cabinet of Singapore
Current cabinet Fifth Lee Hsien Loong Cabinet
LeaderPrime Minister
Ministries 20
Judicial branch
Name Judiciary of Singapore
Supreme Court
Chief judge Sundaresh Menon
Seat1 Supreme Court Lane, Singapore 178879
State Court
Chief judgeVincent Hoong Seng Lei
Seat1 Havelock Square, Singapore 059724

The politics of Singapore takes the form of a unitary parliamentary representative democracy whereby the President of Singapore is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Singapore is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the cabinet from the parliament, and to a lesser extent, the President. Cabinet has the general direction and control of the Government and is accountable to Parliament. [1] There are three separate branches of government: the legislature, executive and judiciary based on the Westminster system. The legal system is modelled on English law. [2]

Contents

Singapore is a republic. While the country has a multi-party system, the dominant political party in Singapore have often been the People's Action Party, 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 both the government and the Parliament of Singapore. The legislature is the 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 (SAF) posts. They also exercise powers over national security matters.

Political background

Singaporean politics have been dominated by the People's Action Party (PAP) since the 1959 general election when Lee Kuan Yew became Singapore's first prime minister (Singapore was then a self-governing state within the British Empire). The PAP has been the only ruling party to form the government since then. Singapore joined the Federation of Malaysia in 1963 and gained independence in 1965 after being expelled. [3]

Singapore has consistently been rated as the least-corrupt country in Asia and amongst the top ten cleanest in the world by Transparency International. [4] [5] The World Bank's governance indicators have also rated Singapore highly on rule of law, control of corruption and government effectiveness. However, it is widely perceived that some aspects of the political process, civil liberties, and political and human rights are lacking. [6] The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Singapore a " flawed democracy " in 2023. [7] [ needs update ]

Political climate

People's Action Party

Critics[ who? ] cite the explanation behind the continued electoral victories of the People's Action Party (PAP) and the lackluster opposition on the use of defamation lawsuits by PAP politicians, which could bankrupt political opponents and subsequently disqualify them from running for office. However, such a circumstance has not been observed in more than a decade. [8] [9] Another case include former leader of the WP J. B. Jeyaretnam, who became bankrupt in 2001. [10] [11] [12] Another reason given is the occasional pursuit of legal action against journalists and bloggers critical of the PAP and its policies. [13] Reporters Without Borders cites such lawsuits, along with attempts at making critical journalists unemployable, among its concerns when ranking the country only "partly free" for press freedom in 2017. [14]

However, many domestic and international political analysts have often credited the relative longevity and support of the PAP behind the leadership of its first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who led the country for 31 years. During his tenure, Singapore within less than a generation had transformed from a relatively underdeveloped and impoverished agrarian society into Asia's most developed nation and one of the wealthiest, as a center of aviation, international banking, business, tourism and shipping, dubbed as the Singapore economic model. Subsequently, the country has also been dubbed as one of the Four Asian Tigers and continues to experience stable growth, with a higher GDP per capita far above the other Asian Tigers of Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan, as well as the Asia-Pacific in general, including Japan. [15] [16]

This has led many Singaporeans to look upon favourably on Lee and his legacy, which in turn tends to garner support for the party which he had founded even long after he had stepped down as prime minister and subsequently retired. When Lee died in 2015, the general elections held later that year gave the PAP almost 70% of the popular vote and 83 out of 89 parliamentary seats, a landslide victory. [17]

The PAP has historically voiced out to voters in their political campaigns that constituencies voting for opposition MPs would be put at the bottom of the priority list for public housing programs or infrastructure, such as constructing new Mass Rapid Transit stations. [18] [19] [20] In 1998, then PAP secretary-general, Goh Chok Tong said, "By linking the priority of upgrading to electoral support, we focus the minds of voters on the link between upgrading and the people whose policies make it possible. This has the desired result." [21]

Workers' Party

The Workers' Party (WP) is the current leading opposition party. WP took 10 of the 93 parliamentary seats in the 2020 election, while the PAP won the other 83. [22] The WP strongholds are mostly located in the north-east region of Singapore, namely the Aljunied and Hougang constituencies. The party's second GRC which it had won in the most recent election, the Sengkang constituency, is also located in the vicinity.

Progress Singapore Party

The newly created Progress Singapore Party (PSP), obtained two NCMP seats in the 2020 election. [23] Notable members of the party include Lee Hsien Yang, the younger brother of the current prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, as well as Tan Cheng Bock, a former PAP MP for 26 years and a former presidential candidate.

Executive

The president now exercises powers over the following: [29]

However, the president must consult the Council of Presidential Advisers before they take a decision on some of these matters. The council comprises:

A member of the council serves a six-year term and is eligible for re-appointment for further terms of four years each. [30]

Similar to the Speech from the Throne given by the heads of state in other parliamentary systems, the president delivers an address written by the government at the opening of parliament about what kind of policies to expect in the coming year. The current president is Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

Cabinet

Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong 2016 (cropped).jpg
Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore

The cabinet forms the executive of the government and it is answerable to parliament. It consist of sitting members of parliament and is headed by a prime minister, the head of government. The current prime minister is Lee Hsien Loong.

Neither the prime minister nor members of the cabinet are elected by parliament. The prime minister is appointed by the president, then Cabinet members, also known as ministers, are appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister. [31]

The cabinet in Singapore collectively decides the government's policies and has influence over lawmaking by introducing bills.

Ministers in Singapore are the highest paid politicians in the world, receiving a 60% salary raise in 2007 and as a result Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's pay jumped to S$3.1 million, five times the US$400,000 earned by US President Barack Obama. Although there was a public outcry regarding the high salary in comparison to the size of the country governed, the government's firm stance was that this raise was required to ensure the continued efficiency and corruption-free status of Singapore's "world-class" government. [32] On 21 May 2011, following the 2011 general election, the Prime Minister announced that a committee would be appointed to review politicians' remuneration, and that revised salaries would take effect from that date.

Legislative

Parliament

Parliament House Parliament House Singapore.jpg
Parliament House

The unicameral Singaporean parliament is the legislature in Singapore with the president as its head. [33] Before independence in 1965, it was known as the Legislative Assembly. It currently consists of 93 members of parliament. The maximum term of any one parliament is five years, after which a general election must be held within three months of the dissolution of parliament.

The 93 elected members of parliament (MPs) are elected on a plurality voting basis and represent either single-member constituencies (SMCs) or group representation constituencies (GRCs). In GRCs, political parties field a team of between three and six candidates. At least one candidate in the team must belong to a minority race. [34]

Formerly, there were no GRCs, and all constituencies of Singapore were represented by one member, but amendments to the Parliamentary Elections Act in 1991 led to the creation of GRCs, thus creating a plurality voting system in the process. [35] [36]

This development has led to complaints from opposition parties that they are often unable to field one, let alone three or more candidates. Out of the 93 members of parliament, 26 are female. [37] In the 2001 and 2006 general election, the incumbent People's Action Party (PAP) won the same configuration of 82 out of the 84 seats. [38] The final results of the 2020 general election saw a 8.62% swing against the PAP from the 2015 elections of 69.86%. [39]

The constitution also provides for the appointment of other members of parliament not voted in at an election. Up to six non-constituency members of parliament from the opposition political parties can be appointed. [34] Currently, there are two non-constituency members of parliament.

A constitutional provision for the appointment of up to nine nominated members of parliament (NMPs) was made in 1990. [34] NMPs are appointed by the president for a term of two and a half years on the recommendation of a select committee chaired by the speaker of Parliament and are not connected to any political parties. The youngest NMP to be sworn into parliament was 26 years old, Yip Pin Xiu.

In 2018, nine NMPs were sworn in, out of which five were female.

Both non-constituency and nominated members of parliament cannot vote on the following issues:

Legislative process

Before any law is passed, it is first introduced in parliament as a draft known as a bill. Bills are usually introduced by a minister on behalf of the cabinet, known as government bills. However, any member of parliament can introduce a bill, known as a private member's bill. All bills must go through three readings in parliament and receive the president's assent to become an act of Parliament.

Each bill goes through several stages before it becomes a law. The first stage is a mere formality known as the first reading, where it is introduced without a debate. This is followed by the second reading, where members of parliament debate on the general principles of the bill. If parliament opposes the bill, it may vote to reject the bill.

If the bill goes through the second reading, the bill is sent to a select committee where every clause in the bill is examined. Members of parliament who support the bill in principle but do not agree with certain clauses can propose amendments to those clauses at this stage. Following its report back to parliament, the bill will go through its third reading where only minor amendments will be allowed before it is passed.

Most bills passed by parliament are scrutinised by the Presidential Council for Minority Rights which makes a report to the speaker of Parliament stating whether there are clauses in a bill which affects any racial or religious community. [40] If approved by the council, the bill will be presented for the president's assent.

The last stage involves the granting of assent by the president, before the bill officially becomes a law.

Constitution

The Constitution of Singapore is the supreme law of Singapore [41] and it is a codified constitution.

The constitution cannot be amended without the support of more than two-thirds of the members of parliament on the second and third readings. [41] The president may seek opinion on constitutional issues from a tribunal consisting of not less than three judges of the Supreme Court. Singaporean courts, like the courts in Australia, cannot offer advisory opinion on the constitutionality of laws. [42]

Part IV of the constitution guarantees the following: [43]

  1. liberty of a person
  2. prohibition of slavery and forced labour
  3. protection against retrospective criminal laws and repeated trials
  4. equal protection
  5. prohibition of banishment and freedom of movement
  6. freedom of speech, assembly and association
  7. freedom of religion
  8. right to education

The sections on liberty of the person and freedoms of speech, assembly, movement, association and religion are all qualified by allowing Parliament to restrict those freedoms for reasons including national security, public health, and "public order or morality". In practice, the courts have given complete discretion to the government in imposing such restrictions.

Part XII of the constitution allows the Parliament of Singapore to enact legislation designed to stop or prevent subversion. Such legislation is valid even if it is inconsistent with Part IV of the constitution. The Internal Security Act (ISA) is a legislation under such provision. In 1966, Chia Thye Poh was detained under the ISA and was imprisoned for 23 years without trial. Afterwards, he was placed under conditions of house arrest for another nine years.

Judiciary

Elections and political parties

A poll card that was used in the 2020 general election GE2020 Poll Card Toa Payoh-Bishan GRC.jpg
A poll card that was used in the 2020 general election

Voting has been compulsory in Singapore since 1959 and there is universal suffrage. [44] The current legal voting age is 21, although there has been proposals by the opposition to reduce it to 18. The Elections Department of Singapore is responsible for the planning, preparation and conduct of presidential and parliamentary elections and of any national referendum in Singapore. It is a department under the Prime Minister's Office.

Paper ballots are still used in Singapore. Electronic voting is currently not used due to concerns of hacking both domestic and abroad, as well as the lack of transparency. Although ballot papers have serial numbers on them to prevent electoral fraud, voting is secret, which has been verified by all political parties both in government and in opposition. [45] Freedom House has also mentioned that elections in Singapore are free of electoral fraud and voter suppression. [46] As stated in the Elections Department website: [47]

Ballot papers can be examined only under strict conditions, and there are safeguards that make it extremely difficult to find out how any particular voter voted. After the count, all ballot papers and their counterfoils have to be sealed in the Supreme Court vault for six months, after which all the ballot papers and other election documents are destroyed under the observance of all political parties that have contested in their various constituencies. During those six months, these documents can strictly only be retrieved by court order. The court will issue such an order only if it is satisfied that a vote has been fraudulently cast and the result of the election may be affected as a result. Our courts have issued no such order since elections have been held here since 1948.

Electoral boundaries

The boundaries of electoral constituencies in Singapore are decided by the Elections Department, which is under the control of the Prime Minister's Office. [48] New electoral boundaries are published a few weeks before a general election. [48] [49] There have been accusations of gerrymandering by critics via dissolving of constituencies with relatively stronger opposition support, such as the former Cheng San Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in 1997, although it has never been proven. [50] Furthermore, a new constituency created in the 2020 election, the Sengkang GRC, was immediately lost by the governing PAP to the WP.

Ruling party

The PAP has been the dominant political party in Singapore, re-elected continuously since 1959. It is headed by Lee Hsien Loong, who succeeded Goh Chok Tong. Goh's predecessor Lee Kuan Yew served as Singapore's prime minister from independence through 1990. Since stepping down as prime minister, Lee remained influential as Senior Minister and Minister Mentor.

PAP has held the overwhelming majority of seats in parliament since 1966, when the opposition Barisan Sosialis Party resigned from parliament and left the PAP as the sole representative party. PAP won all of the seats in an expanding parliament in the general elections of 1968, 1972, 1976 and 1980. PAP's share of the popular vote in contested seats declined from 78% in 1980 to 65% in 1997. However, the elections of 2001 saw the party's share of the popular vote climb to 75%, winning 82 of the 84 seats. 2006 Singapore general election marked the first time since 1988 the PAP did not return to power on nomination day, with the opposition parties fielding candidates in over half of the constituencies. Overall PAP saw its share of the vote fall to 66.6%. The 2011 Singapore general election saw their vote share fall even further to 60.1%, losing a GRC in the process for the first time. However, the 2015 Singapore general election saw its vote share recover to 69.9%, as the country's first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, had died that same year. In the most recent election held in 2020, it garnered 61.2% of the votes.

Opposition parties

There are two opposition parties in the 14th Parliament of Singapore as of the most recent election – The Workers' Party and the Progress Singapore Party. [51]

There are other major opposition parties such as the Singapore People's Party, Reform Party, and the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), that does not hold a seat in parliament. J.B. Jeyaretnam of the Workers' Party became the first opposition party member of parliament in 15 years when he won a 1981 by-election. Despite acquiring an increasing percentage of the popular vote—38.7% overall in 2020—opposition parties gained small numbers of seats in the general elections, such as 1984 (2 seats of 79), 1988 (1 seat of 81), 1991 (4 seats of 81), 1997 (2 seats of 83) and 2001 (2 seats of 84). The opposition parties attribute the disproportionate results to the nature of the GRC and the first-past-the-post voting (FPTP) system.

As of July 2020, the Worker's Party holds 10 out of 93 elected seats while Progress Singapore Party holds the remaining 2 Non-constituency MP (NCMP) seats.

Women's participation in politics

Women traditionally played a significantly smaller role than their male counterparts in Singapore. Nonetheless, in recent years, there is an increasing level of female participation in the Singapore political arena.

Lee Li Lian was the second woman from an opposition party to win a seat in Parliament with 54.50% of the votes but lost in the following 2015 general election by a slim margin. Sylvia Lim Swee Lian, currently the Chairperson of the opposition Workers' Party (WP) and Member of Parliament (MP) representing Aljunied GRC whose team won 54.71% of the votes (54.72% including overseas votes), was the first time that an opposition party won a GRC since the system's introduction on 1 June 1988.

On 11 July 2020, He Ting Ru and Raeesah Begum Farid Khan became the third and fourth woman from an opposition party to win a seat in parliament by 4,922 votes over the ruling party's candidates in the 2020 general election for the Sengkang Group Representation Constituency. The team was led by He Ting Ru and debutant Raeesah Khan, who proceeded to become the youngest MP at 26 years old in Singapore's parliamentary history.

In September 2017, Halimah Yacob was inaugurated as Singapore's first female president.

Shirt colours

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.

PartyShirt Colour
PSP logo variation.png Progress Singapore Party Red and White
PAP logo variation.svg People's Action Party White
WP logo variation.svg Workers' Party Light Blue
SPP logo.svg Singapore People's Party Red and White
SDP logo variation.svg Singapore Democratic Party Red
NSP logo variation.svg National Solidarity Party Orange
Reform Party Singapore logo (simple).svg Reform Party Yellow
Red star, 4x blue overlapping rings.svg Singapore Democratic Alliance Bright Green
DPP logo variation.png Democratic Progressive Party White and Orange
PPP logo variation.svg People's Power Party Light Purple
PV logo variation.svg Peoples Voice Purple and Black
Red Dot United.svg Red Dot United Navy Blue

See also

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  23. ↑ "GE2020: PSP's Hazel Poa and Leong Mun Wai will take up NCMP seats". CNA. Archived from the original on 14 July 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  24. ↑ Constitution, Art. 19(2)(f).
  25. ↑ Constitution, Art. 19(3)(a).
  26. ↑ Constitution, Art. 19(3)(b) read with the Fifth Schedule.
  27. ↑ Constitution, Art. 19(4), read with Art. 19(7).
  28. ↑ Constitution, Art. 19(3)(c) and Art 19(4)(b).
  29. ↑ "The Presidency in Singapore". Istana website. Archived from the original on 22 August 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2006.
  30. ↑ "Council of Presidential Advisers". Istana website. Archived from the original on 7 March 2006. Retrieved 22 April 2006.
  31. ↑ "The Executive". Attorney-General's Chambers of Singapore website. Retrieved 22 April 2006.
  32. ↑ Singapore announces 60 percent pay raise for ministers - International Herald Tribune
  33. ↑ "About Us". Parliament of Singapore website. Archived from the original on 24 April 2006. Retrieved 22 April 2006.
  34. 1 2 3 "The Legislature". Attorney-General's Chambers of Singapore website. Retrieved 22 April 2006.
  35. ↑ "Parliamentary Elections Act". Singapore Statutes Online. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 8 May 2006.
  36. ↑ "Legislation history". Singapore Statutes Online. Retrieved 8 May 2006.
  37. ↑ "ELD | 2020 Parliamentary General Election Results". 12 July 2020. Archived from the original on 12 July 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  38. ↑ "Singapore's PAP returned to power". Channel NewsAsia. 7 May 2006. Archived from the original on 16 July 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2006.
  39. ↑ hermesauto (12 July 2020). "Singapore GE2020: PAP will have to review broader issues behind overall swing in votes, says Tan Chuan-Jin". The Straits Times. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  40. ↑ "Law Making". Singapore Parliament website. Archived from the original on 19 May 2006. Retrieved 22 April 2006.
  41. 1 2 "The Republic and the Constitution". Attorney-General's Chambers of Singapore website. Retrieved 22 April 2006.
  42. ↑ "The Judiciary". Attorney-General's Chambers of Singapore website. Retrieved 22 April 2006.
  43. ↑ "Fundamental Liberties". Attorney-General's Chambers of Singapore website. Retrieved 22 April 2006.
  44. ↑ "Singapore voter turnout". International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance website. Archived from the original on 15 October 2005. Retrieved 22 April 2006.
  45. ↑ "Workers' Party Explains How Votes Are Secret, Ballots Kept In Sealed Boxes". mustsharenews.com. MSNews. 27 June 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  46. ↑ "Map of Freedom in the World: Singapore (2009)". Freedom House . Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  47. ↑ "Ballot Secrecy". Elections Department of Singapore website. Archived from the original on 26 March 2006. Retrieved 22 April 2006.
  48. 1 2 Terence Chong (2010). Management of Success: Singapore Revisited. Institute of Southeast Asian. p. 106. ISBN   978-981-4279-85-7.
  49. ↑ Diane K. Mauzy; Robert Stephen Milne (2002). Singapore Politics Under the People's Action Party. Psychology Press. p. 143. ISBN   978-0-415-24653-8.
  50. ↑ Bilveer Singh (2012). Politics and Governance in Singapore: An Introduction. McGraw-Hill. p. 172. ISBN   978-0-07-108110-8.
  51. ↑ Ng, Kelly (15 July 2020). "PSP NCMPs to work with WP as 'alternative front'". The Business Times. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
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