Editing Politics of Singapore (section)

===Parliament===

{{Main|Parliament of Singapore}}

[[File:Parliament House Singapore.jpg|thumb|[[Parliament House, Singapore|Parliament House]]]]

The [[unicameral]] Singaporean parliament is the legislature in Singapore with the president as its head.<ref>{{cite web | title=About Us | work=Parliament of Singapore website | url=http://www.parliament.gov.sg/AboutUs/aboutus-main.htm | access-date=22 April 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060424172235/http://www.parliament.gov.sg/AboutUs/aboutus-main.htm | archive-date=24 April 2006 | url-status=dead }}</ref> 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 system|plurality voting]] basis and represent either single-member [[constituencies of Singapore|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.<ref name="TheLegislature">{{cite web | title=The Legislature | work=Attorney-General's Chambers of Singapore website | url=http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/non_version/cgi-bin/cgi_getdata.pl?actno=1999-REVED-CONST&doctitle=CONSTITUTION%20OF%20THE%20REPUBLIC%20OF%20SINGAPORE%0a&date=latest&method=part&segid=931158660-001483#931158660-001529 | access-date=22 April 2006}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Parliamentary Elections Act|publisher=Singapore Statutes Online|url=http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/non_version/cgi-bin/cgi_getdata.pl?actno=2001-REVED-218&doctitle=PARLIAMENTARY%20ELECTIONS%20ACT%0A&segid=946439076-000003|access-date=2006-05-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Legislation history|publisher=Singapore Statutes Online|url=http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/non_version/cgi-bin/cgi_getdata.pl?actno=2001-REVED-218&doctitle=PARLIAMENTARY%20ELECTIONS%20ACT%0A&segid=946439077-003161|access-date=2006-05-08}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-07-12|title=ELD {{!}} 2020 Parliamentary General Election Results|url=https://www.eld.gov.sg/finalresults2020.html|access-date=2020-07-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200712012306/https://www.eld.gov.sg/finalresults2020.html|archive-date=12 July 2020}}</ref> In the [[2001 Singaporean general election|2001]] and [[2006 Singaporean general election|2006]] general election, the incumbent People's Action Party (PAP) won the same configuration of 82 out of the 84 seats.<ref>{{cite news | title =  Singapore's PAP returned to power  | publisher = Channel NewsAsia | date = 7 May 2006 | url = http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/206936/1/.html}}</ref> The final results of the [[2020 Singaporean general election|2020 general election]] saw a 8.62% swing against the PAP from the [[2015 Singaporean general election|2015 elections]] of 69.86%.<ref>{{Cite news|last=hermesauto|date=2020-07-12|title=Singapore GE2020: PAP will have to review broader issues behind overall swing in votes, says Tan Chuan-Jin|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/politics/singapore-ge2020-pap-will-have-to-review-broader-issues-behind-overall-swing-in-votes-says|access-date=2020-07-15|website=The Straits Times|language=en}}</ref>

The constitution also allows for the appointment of additional members of parliament who are not elected during an election. Up to six [[Non-Constituency Member of Parliament|non-constituency members of parliament]] from the opposition political parties can be appointed.<ref name="TheLegislature"/> Currently, there are two non-constituency members of parliament.

A constitutional provision for the appointment of up to nine [[Nominated Member of Parliament|nominated members of parliament]] (NMPs) was made in 1990.<ref name="TheLegislature"/> NMPs are appointed by the president for a term of two and a half years on the recommendation of a [[Select committee (United Kingdom)|select committee]] chaired by the [[List of Speakers of the Parliament of Singapore|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:
*[[constitutional amendment|amendment of the constitution]]
*[[budget|public funds]]
*[[vote of no confidence]] in the government
*removing the president from office