Members of Parliament

Members of Parliament (MPs) consist of elected, non-constituency and nominated Members. The majority of MPs are elected into Parliament at a General Election on a first-past-the-post basis and represent either Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) or Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs).

MPs act as a bridge between the community and the Government by ensuring that the concerns of their constituents are heard in Parliament.

Elected Members

In GRCs, political parties field a team of between 3 and 6 candidates. At least one candidate in the team must belong to a minority race. This requirement ensures that parties contesting the elections in GRCs are multi-racial so that minority races will be represented in Parliament. There will be 18 GRCs and 15 SMCs in the upcoming 2025 General Election.

Non-Constituency Members

The Constitution allows for up to 12 NCMPs to be declared as elected. NCMPs are declared as MPs from opposition candidates who had contested in a General Election, were not voted in but had received the highest percentage of votes amongst the unelected candidates from the opposition parties. This ensures there will always be a minimum number of opposition members in Parliament and that views other than the Government’s can be expressed in Parliament.

Nominated Members

A constitutional provision for the appointment of up to 9 Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs) was made in 1990 to ensure a wide representation of community views in Parliament. NMPs are appointed by the President of Singapore for a term of two and a half years on the recommendation of a Special Select Committee of Parliament chaired by the Speaker. NMPs contribute independent and non-partisan views in Parliament.