Politics 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 and the appointment of key judiciary, Civil Service and Singapore Armed Forces posts.
[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.
[10] One commonly cited reason for a lack of opposition in Singapore is the use of defamation lawsuits by the PAP to bankrupt political opponents and disqualify them from running for office when accusations were made against the ruling party.
[8][16] Reporters Without Borders cites such lawsuits, along with attempts at making critical journalists unemployable, among its concerns when ranking the country 151st in the world for press freedom in 2017.
[17] The PAP has in the past threatened voters by saying that constituencies voting for opposition MPs would be put at the bottom of the list for public housing programs.
[21] As recently as 2011 Lee Hsien Loong expressed that there has to be a distinction between opposition wards and the ones that voted for the PAP in terms of housing upgrades.
[22] The boundaries of electoral constituencies in Singapore are decided by the Elections Department, which is under the control of the Prime Minister's Office.
[27] Some offences can lead to heavy fines or caning and the death penalty is in place for murder and drug trafficking.
[34] 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.
[35] The cabinet in Singapore collectively decides the government's policies and has influence over lawmaking by introducing bills.
[36] 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.
[38] 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.
[46] Part IV of the constitution guarantees the following:[47] 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".
Part XII of the constitution allows the Parliament of Singapore to enact legislation designed to stop or prevent subversion.
As stated in the Elections Department website:[50] The PAP has been the dominant political party in Singapore, re-elected continuously since 1959.
Goh's predecessor Lee Kuan Yew served as Singapore's prime minister from independence through 1990.
The 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.
Nonetheless, in recent years, there is an increasing level of female participation in the Singapore political arena.
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 Sengkang Group Representation Constituency(GRC).
The team was led by He Ting Ru and was first timer Raeesah Khan who proceeded to become the youngest MP in Singapore's Parliamentary history.
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.
In September 2017, Halimah Yacob was inaugurated as Singapore's first female President, the only candidate certified as eligible in the election.
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.
