This is a list of political parties in Singapore, including existing and historical ones. The earliest political parties were established in the lead-up to Singapore first Legislative Council elections in

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

. Singapore is a

republic A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

. While the country has a

multi-party system In political science, a multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in ...

, the dominant political party have often been the

People's Action Party The People's Action Party (abbreviation: PAP) is a major conservative centre-right political party in Singapore and is one of the three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament, alongside the opposition Workers' Party (WP) and ...

since 1965, along with the main opposition party, the Workers' Party.

Minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in t ...

s are uncommon, as elections have not resulted in a

hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisla ...

since independence. Legislative power is vested in 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 A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and ...

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, as well as the appointment of key

judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

and

Singapore Armed Forces The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) are the military services of the Republic of Singapore, responsible for protecting and defending the security interests and the sovereignty of the country. A military component of the Ministry of Defence (MINDE ...

posts. They also exercise powers over

national security National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military att ...

matters. Singapore has consistently been rated as the most least-corrupt country in Asia and globally amongst the top five by

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

Corruption Perceptions Index The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index which ranks countries "by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys." The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entru ...

, and the degree of

accountability Accountability, in terms of ethics and governance, is equated with answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. As in an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the pub ...

and transparency is reflected in the public's high level of satisfaction with the political institutions.

Thomas Friedman Thomas Loren Friedman (; born July 20, 1953) is an American political commentator and author. He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner who is a weekly columnist for '' The New York Times''. He has written extensively on foreign affairs, global ...

of the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' also considers the country's civil service to be one of the most efficient and uncorrupt bureaucracies in the world, with a high standard of discipline and accountability. The

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

's governance indicators have also rated Singapore highly on rule of law, control of corruption and government effectiveness.

History

Pre-independence

Amongst the oldest parties, the

Malay Union The Malay Union ( ms, Kesatuan Melayu) was a political party in Singapore. History The party was established on 14 May 1926 as a religious and cultural organisations for the Malay community.Progressive Party and Labour Party, both established in the late 1940s, were some of the pioneering local establishments, with the PP the only party to contest in the first elections in 1948, and the LP coming on board in 1951. By 1955, the fledgling British colony had seven parties contesting, and reached a pinnacle of 13 parties in 1959. A total of three parties were established in the 1940s, 12 in the 1950s and five in the 1960s.

Post-independence

20th century

Post-independence Singapore saw the dominance of the

, which first came into power in 1959. On 16 May 1960, a new Societies Ordinance was passed, and in December 1966, local parties were forbidden from being affiliated to foreign ones. This directly impacted the handful of small parties with links to Malaysia, most of which renamed themselves and/or cut formal foreign ties. The PAP's dominance stemming from Singapore's economic advancement further weakened the smaller opposition parties, with a majority of Singaporeans voting for the PAP in subsequent elections. To date, 13 parties have officially dissolved, mostly through mergers with other parties. Still, new parties continued to be established. Seven new parties were formed in the 1970s (including the

Justice Party, Singapore The Singapore Justice Party (abbreviation: SJP) is a political party in Singapore. Background The party has been based mostly in Marine Parade district of Singapore since the party has taken part in general elections after 1988 by fielding its c ...

and the United Front, the preprocessor of today's

Democratic Progressive Party The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a Taiwanese nationalist and centre-left political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). Controlling both the Republic of China presidency and the unicameral Legislative Yuan, it is the majorit ...

), two in the 1980s, two in the 1990s, three in the 2000s, and six in the 2010s. The newest party to be registered is Singapore United Party, on 24 December 2020. There are therefore a total of 30 registered political parties today, of which ten have never contested in an election.

21st century

Over the years, alliances between political parties existed, however short-lived. Presently, only one functioning multi-party alliance, the

Singapore Democratic Alliance The Singapore Democratic Alliance (abbreviation: SDA) is a political coalition between the National Solidarity Party (NSP) and Singapore Justice Party (SJP) in Singapore. History Prior to the founding in 2001, then-opposition Member of Par ...

, which was formed on 3 July 2001, initially composed of the Singapore People's Party (SPP), National Solidarity Party,

Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura The Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura (abbreviation: PKMS; English: Singapore Malay National Organisation) is a political party in Singapore. History The origins of Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura (PKMS) were rooted in the Singapo ...

and the

, with the SPP being the lead party. The vision was to bring all opposition parties under one banner to counter the PAP's dominance, but it was met with limited success due to opposition infighting. The NSP left the alliance in 2007, and in 2010, the SPP itself left when there was internal disagreements over the SPP's attempts to bring in the newly formed Reform Party. After the 2015 Singaporean general election, 4 new political parties were formed, Progress Singapore Party (PSP),

Red Dot United Red Dot United (abbreviation: RDU) is an opposition political party in Singapore. History The party was founded on 26 May 2020 by members of the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) who had resigned from the PSP. Although the average processing ...

, Peoples Voice (PV) and Singapore United Party (SUP). Peoples Voice was formed by Lim Tean in 2018 after he resigned from the National Solidarity Party in 2017. PSP was founded in 2019 by former

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

Tan Cheng Bock and 11 other members. Former Progress Singapore Party members Ravi Philemon and Michelle Lee, together with other former members of other political parties submitted an application to form the

to the Registry of Societies. Another party was formed out of former members of the Reform Party in the aftermath of the 2020 Singaporean general election, called the Singapore United Party.

Legislation

Under the current legislation, all political parties (termed "Political Associations") must be registered under the Societies Act. As such, the following rules pertaining to political associations apply: * All members of political parties must be Singaporean citizens. * Political Association must not be affiliated or connected with any organisation outside Singapore. The fact that a political association uses a name or symbol which is the same as that of an organisation outside Singapore shall be deemed to be sufficient evidence that the political association has an affiliation or connection with that organisation. The government has the power to dissolve the party if it contravenes the above rules, or any other rule applicable to all forms of registered societies. Under the Political Donations Act which came into force on 15 February 2001, Political Associations are also barred from accepting any donation in cash or kind from impermissible donors, or from anonymous donors where the value exceeds S$5,000. The government announced that it was to "prevent foreigners from interfering in domestic politics through the financial support for any association's cause", and cited an example of a case in 1959 when S$700,000 was sent to Chew Swee Kee, then Education Minister from the Singapore People's Alliance by a "neighbouring intelligence service in a "black operation" against the interests of Singapore". Another case was also cited pertaining to foreign financial support for

Francis Seow Francis Seow, born Seow Tiang Siew ( zh, s=萧添寿, p=Xiāo Tiānshòu; 11 October 1928 – 21 January 2016), was a Singaporean lawyer who was Solicitor-General of Singapore and later the President of the Law Society of Singapore. Seow started ...

of the Workers' Party in 1988. The People's Action Party donated $20,000 to Australian political parties through (

Singtel Singapore Telecommunications Limited, commonly known as Singtel, is a Singaporean telecommunications conglomerate and one of the four major telcos operating in the country. The company is the largest mobile network operator in Singapore with ...

-owned) Optus in 2010, although the motives and details of the donation remain unverified.

Political parties

There have been a total of 43 political parties (not including Malaysia's parties, those contested in both Malaysia and Singapore elections, or those which contested during Singapore's merger with Malaysia) in Singapore. Party or Alliance active
Party or Alliance active, but collated to another party or alliance
Party or Alliance dissolved
Party or Alliance registered, but is yet to contest
Party or Alliance's status unknown

Current Political Parties

Shirt colours

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.

Past Political Parties

# The tally does not include city council elections,

by-elections A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election use ...

, Malaysian parliamentary elections or

presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

(the latter which requires

nonpartisan Nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party. While an Oxford English Dictionary definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in most cases, nonpartisan refers sp ...

candidacy). # The party was contested under the coalition of Singapore People's Party (SPP). # The party was contested under the coalition of Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA). # The party was contested under the coalition of United People's Front (UPF).

Other defunct parties

Malayan Communist Party The Malayan Communist Party (MCP), officially the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), was a Marxist–Leninist and anti-imperialist communist party which was active in British Malaya and later, the modern states of Malaysia and Singapore from ...

Malayan Democratic Union Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

(dissolved in 1948) * Singapore Socialist Party (merged to form Labour Front)

References

External links

Political parties in Singapore
{{Asia topic, List of political parties in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

Political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...