General elections in Singapore must be held within three months after five years have elapsed from the date of the first sitting of a particular Parliament of Singapore, as per the Constitution. However, Parliament can also be dissolved and a general election called at the behest of the Prime Minister before the five-year period elapses. The number of constituencies or electoral divisions is not permanently fixed by law, but is declared by the prime minister prior to each general election pursuant to the , which governs the conduct of elections to Parliament, taking into account recommendations of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee.
In Singapore, the Parliament is unicameral. For the 2025 general election, there are 97 elected seats in Parliament organised into 15 Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) and 18 Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs). Each SMC returns one Member of Parliament (MP) while each GRC returns between three and six MPs, at least one of whom must be from the Malay, Indian or other minority communities. A group of persons wishing to stand for election in a GRC must all be members of the same political party, or a group of independent candidates. The voting age in Singapore is 21.
The most recent election was last held on 3 May 2025, with the People's Action Party (PAP) winning 87 out of the 97 seats with 65.57% of the popular vote, while the incumbent opposition party, the Workers' Party (WP), won the remaining 10 seats.
Electoral process The election process begins when the President, acting on Cabinet's advice, issues a writ of election addressed to the returning officer. On nomination day, the returning officer and their representatives will be present at designated nomination centres between 11:00 am and 12:00 noon to receive prospective candidates' nomination papers, and political donation certificates certifying that they have complied with the requirements of the . A person intending to contest in a GRC as a minority candidate must also submit a certificate confirming that they are a person belonging to the Malay, Indian or some other minority community. In addition, between the date of the writ of election and 12:00 noon on nomination day, candidates must lodge with the returning officer a deposit equal to 8% of the total allowances payable to an MP in the preceding calendar year, rounded to the nearest $500, which varies in each election. At the close of the nomination period, if there are multiple candidates in an SMC or more than one group of candidates in a GRC, the election is adjourned for a poll to be taken, otherwise, the election is declared walkover and that the only one candidate in an SMC or the sole group of candidates in a GRC being MP-elects. The returning officer issues a notice of contested election which states when polling day will be; and information such as the names of the candidates, their proposers and seconders, the symbols allocated to candidates, and their passport photos, all of which will be printed on ballot papers, and the locations of polling stations.
Candidates can only mount election campaigns from after the close of nomination up to the day before the eve of polling day. No campaigning is permitted on the eve of polling day itself, which is known as "cooling-off day". Candidates can advertise on the Internet, conduct house-to-house visits, distribute pamphlets, put up banners and posters, and hold election rallies. Political parties fielding at least six candidates are allocated airtime for two pre-recorded party political broadcasts on radio and television, one on the day following nomination day and the other on cooling-off day. The amount of airtime granted depends on the number of candidates each party is fielding. The maximum amount which a candidate or their election agent can pay or incur for an election campaign is currently $5 per the electorate in an SMC, or in the case of GRC, the average electorate per the size of the GRC itself.
Polling day at a general election is a public holiday, and voting is compulsory. Unless the returning officer decides otherwise, polling stations are open from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. Voters must go to the polling stations assigned to them. In 2023, the Elections Department introduced a postal voting trial for overseas Singaporeans to cast their votes at overseas missions and government offices. Since 2018, electronic registration has been used to register voters at polling stations. This makes the registration process faster than the previous practice of manually checking and striking off the names against a hardcopy register. After the poll closes, the presiding officer of each polling station seals the ballot box without opening them. Candidates or their polling agents may also affix their own seals to the ballot boxes. The ballot boxes are then taken to counting centres to be opened and the ballots counted. Since 2018, vote counting is conducted by counting machines similar to those used to handle bank notes. This makes the counting process three times faster than the previous practice of manually counting the ballot papers by counting assistants. To curb speculation from unofficial sources, a sample count is typically performed at the start of the counting process to get an indication of the possible electoral outcome. This is based on a random bundle of 100 ballot papers from each polling station in the contested electoral division. A candidate or his counting agent may ask the returning officer for a recount of votes if the difference between the number of votes for the candidate or group of candidates with the most votes and the number of votes of any other candidate or group of candidate is 2% or less, excluding rejected and tendered votes. After all counts, and recounts if any, have been completed, the returning officer ascertains whether the total number of electors registered to vote overseas is less than the difference between the number of votes for the two candidates with the highest number of votes. If so, the returning officer declares the candidate with the highest number of votes to be elected for the electoral division. If not, the returning officer states the number of votes cast for each candidate and the date and location where the overseas votes will be counted.
Composition and term of Parliament
The Parliament of Singapore is unicameral and consists of three types of Members of Parliament: elected Members of Parliament (MPs), Non-constituency Members of Parliament (NCMPs), and Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs)., Article 39(1). Of these, MPs are chosen by universal suffrage or popular election under a first-past-the-post and party block voting system, while NCMPs are chosen from among the candidates of political parties not forming the Government.
The maximum duration of each Parliament is five years from the date of its first sitting. If Parliament has not been dissolved before that period has elapsed, it is automatically dissolved by operation of law.Constitution, Art. 65(4). However, in most cases Parliament is dissolved and a general election called at the behest of the Prime Minister, who is entitled to advise the President to do so by a proclamation published in the Government Gazette. The president is not obliged to proclaim that Parliament is dissolved unless he is satisfied that the prime minister commands the confidence of a majority of MPs.Constitution, Art. 65(3). The President is required to dissolve Parliament if the office of Prime Minister is vacant and he is satisfied in his personal discretion that a reasonable period has elapsed since the office was vacated and there is no MP likely to command the confidence of a majority of MPs: Art. 65(2). Once Parliament has been dissolved, a general election must be held within three months.Constitution, Art. 66.
The number of elected MPs and constituencies or electoral divisionsAccording to the Constitution, Art. 39(3), a constituency is construed as an electoral division for the purposes of Parliamentary elections. is not permanently fixed by law, but is declared by the prime minister prior to each general election pursuant to the Parliamentary Elections Act, ("PEA"). which governs the conduct of elections to Parliament, taking into account recommendations of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee.For more information on the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee, see "Group Representation Constituency#Number and boundaries of electoral divisions". Each constituency may be of Single Member Constituency (SMC) or Group Representation Constituency (GRC). Each SMC returns one MP while each GRC returns between three and six MPs,Constitution, Art. 39A(1)(a); PEA, s. 8A(1)(a). at least one of whom must be from the Malay, Indian or other minority communities.Constitution, Art. 39A; PEA, ss. 8A and 22. A person is regarded as belonging to the Malay, Indian or other minority communities if they considers themselves to be a member of the community and are generally accepted as such by that community: Constitution, Art. 39A(4). Two committees exist to determine whether a person qualifies as a member of a minority community – a Malay Community Committee and an Indian and Other Minority Communities Committee: PEA, s. 27C; Appointment of Members of Malay Community Committee (Gazette Notification (G.N.) No. 1025/2020 ), archived from the original; and Appointment of Members of Indian and Other Minority Communities Committee (G.N. No. 1026/2020), archived from the original, both dated 23 June 2020 and archived on 30 June 2020. The procedures of these committees are regulated by the Parliamentary Elections (Malay Community Committee) Regulations (Cap. 218, Rg. 1, 2011 Rev. Ed.), archived from the original; and the Parliamentary Elections (Indian and Other Minority Communities Committee) Regulations (Cap. 218, Rg. 2, 2011 Rev. Ed.), archived from the original, both in force from 1 April 2020 and archived on 30 June 2020. A group of persons wishing to stand for election in a GRC must all be members of the same political party, or a group of independent candidates.PEA, s. 27A(3).
For the purposes of the 2025 general election, there were 97 electable seats in Parliament organised into 15 SMCs and 18 GRCs.
Qualifications for Parliamentary candidates Persons are qualified to be elected or appointed as MPs if:Constitution, Art. 44(2). they are Singapore citizens; they are 21 years of age or above on the day of nomination for election; their names appear in a current register of electors; they are resident in Singapore at the date of nomination and have been so resident for an aggregate period of not less than ten years before that date; they are able, with a degree of proficiency sufficient to enable them to take an active part in Parliamentary proceedings, to speak and, unless incapacitated by blindness or some other physical cause, to read and write at least one of the following languages: English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil; and they are not otherwise disqualified from being MPs under Article 45 of the Constitution
Article 45 provides that persons are not qualified to be MPs if:Constitution, Art. 45(1). they are and have been found or declared to be of unsound mind; they are undischarged bankrupts; they hold offices of profit; having been nominated for election to Parliament or the office of president or having acted as election agent to a person so nominated, they have failed to lodge any return of election expenses required by law within the time and in the manner required;