At stake in this election:

• 84 seats in the Parliament

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Sellapan Rama (S. R.) NATHAN
• Head of Government: Prime Minister LEE Hsien Loong
• Assembly: Singapore has a unicameral Parliament with 94 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by plurality vote to serve a 6-year term.
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the President.**
• In the Parliament, 9 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms, 75 members are elected through a group representation constituency (GRC) system to serve 5-year terms, 9 members are nominated by the President and 9 members are appointed from a national compensatory list to serve 5-year terms.***

** At the end of legislative elections, the leader of the majority party is usually appointed prime minister.

*** Out of the 84 elected representatives, nine are elected through single member districts, and 75 in Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs). Each GRC has a district magnitude of around 5 or 6. Each party must present a list of candidates to fill each of the seats. Electors vote for one list, and the list with the most votes wins all the seats. One member of each list is required to be a member of the Malay, the Indian or another minority community. Independents may technically run in the GRCs, but they must do so on a joint-list.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: People's Action Party (PAP) / 人民行动党
  • Leader: LEE Hsien Loong
  • Seats won in this election: 82
  • Seats won in last election: 82
• Party: Workers' Party of Singapore (WP) / 劉程強
  • Leader: LOW Thia Khiang
  • Seats won in this election: 1
  • Seats won in last election: 1
• Alliance: Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) / 新加坡民主联盟***
  • Leader: CHIAM See Tong
  • Seats won in this election: 1
  • Seats won in last election: 1

*** The SDA includes the Singapore People's Party (SPP) and the National Solidarity Party (NSP). CHIAM is leader of the SPP.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 4,401,365 (2006)
• Registered Voters: 1,222,884 (2006)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 2,219,826 (2006)

·         Is Singapore a signatory to CEDAW: No

·         Has Singapore ratified CEDAW: Yes, accession (5 October 1995)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 23 (following the 2006 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 11 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

·         Is Singapore a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 November 2012)

·         Has Singapore ratified CRPD: Yes (18 July 2013)

·         Population with a disability: 660,204 (est.)