Constituencies of Singapore
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Constituencies of Singapore are electoral divisions which may be represented by single or multiple seats in the Parliament of Singapore. Constituencies are classified as single member constituency (SMC) and group representation constituency (GRC) for single-seat constituency and multiple-seat constituency, respectively.
In 1988, the ruling People's Action Party amended the Parliamentary Elections Act to create GRCs and to move away from the single member constituency system.[1] GRCs started out at a size of 3 in 1988 but have steadily grown bigger in subsequent elections.
The current act enables the President, who is generally under advice of the Elections Department, to create a GRC from 3 to 6 electoral wards. In each GRC, at least one candidate or MP must be from a minority race — either a Malay, Indian or Other. The lack of transparent separation of powers between the Elections Department and the ruling party has led the opposition to accuse the government of gerrymandering.
GRCs operate with a plurality voting system, meaning that the party with the largest share of votes wins all seats in the GRC. (This means that even with a one-vote plurarity or majority, the winning team gets to win the whole GRC.) All Singaporean GRCs have had a People's Action Party (PAP) base. Some opposition parties have won seats in SMCs, but never in a GRC.
The official justification for GRCs is to allow minority representation. However, opposition parties have criticized GRCs as making it even more difficult for independent and opposition members to get elected, as a single strong candidate will find it very difficult to win and a steep group deposit of at least S$67,500 (S$13,500 per candidate) is required to stand for election. The opposition has also charged the government with gerrymandering GRC boundaries at very short notice, and "stuffing" otherwise weak GRCs with cabinet ministers. Many PAP MPs have also entered parliament by being placed in a Minister's GRC and so have never faced a vote.
Critics have noted that Joshua Benjamin Jeyaratnam won the 1981 Anson by-election in a Chinese-majority constituency, and that since the GRC system was implemented, minority representation in Parliament has actually declined.
Goh Chok Tong admitted in 2006 that the GRC system is a method to enable new PAP candidates to win election easily [2].
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Parliamentary Elections Act. Singapore Statutes Online. Retrieved on 2006-05-08.
- ^ Goh Chok Tong admits that GRCs are meant to skew
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