Singapore: Parliamentary Election, July 10, 2020

At Stake in this election:

• 93 seats in the Parliament

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President HALIMAH Yacob (since 14 September 2017)
• Head of Government: Prime Minister LEE Hsien Loong (since 12 August 2004)
• Assembly: Singapore has a unicameral Parliament with 104 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• In the Parliament, 93 Members of Parliament (MPs) are directly elected by first-past-the-post voting in 31 constituencies. 14 constituencies are Single Member Constituencies, and 17 are Group Representation Constituencies, which may have between 2 and 6 MPs. Additionally, up to 9 Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs) may appointed by the President to ensure political diversity and independent opinions,[1] and a maximum of 12 Non-constituency Members of Parliament (NCMPs) may be appointed from candidates who did not win in a general election but were one of the best-performing runners-up. Voting is mandatory in all Singapore’s elections for all eligible individuals.

Election Overview:

• Singapore’s 17^th general election was called on 23 June 2020 following the dissolution of Parliament by President HAMILAH Yacob. Candidate nomination occurred on 30 June 2020, followed by a nine-day election campaign. In the 2015 general election, the People’s Action Party (PAP) maintained their majority in the Parliament, winning 69.5% of the vote and 83 seats in the Parliament, while the Workers’ Party of Singapore won 12.5% of the vote and 6 seats.

Main parties in the election:

• People’s Action Party (PAP)
  • Leader: LEE Hsien Loong
  • Last Election: 83 seats (69.5% of vote)
• Workers’ Party (WP)
  • Leader: Pritam SINGH
  • Last Election: 6 seats (12.5% of vote)
• Progress Singapore Party
  • Leader: TAN Cheng Bock
  • Last Election: N/A (new party)

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 6,209,660 (July 2020 est.) [2]
• Registered Voters: 2,651,435 (July 2020) [3]

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 3,176,252 (2020 est.) [4]
• Is Singapore a signatory to CEDAW: No
• Has Singapore ratified CEDAW: No [5]
• Gender Quota: No [6]
• Female candidates in this election: Yes
• Number of Female Parliamentarians: 24 (2015) [7]
• Human Development Index Position: 9 [8]
• Social Institutions and Gender Index Categorization: Low (2019) [9]

Disability Data:

• Is Singapore a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 November 2012)
• Has Singapore ratified CRPD: Yes (18 July 2013) [10]
• Population with a disability: 851,171 [11]