List of political parties in Singapore

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This is a list of political parties in Singapore, including existing and historical ones. The earliest political parties were either branches of parent parties in Malaya, or were established in the lead-up to Singapore first Legislative Council elections in 1948. Amongst the oldest parties, the Malay Union, traced its history back to 14 May 1926, but it was initially a non-political association, participating in elections only in 1955. The 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 fledging 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.

In post-independence Singapore, the dominance of the People's Action Party, which first came into power in 1959, somewhat cooled the flurry of political activism. 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 impacting the handful of small Malaysia-linked parties, most of which renamed themselves and/or cut formal foreign ties. The PAP's dominance and Singapore's economic advancement further weakened the smaller opposition parties, and as of today, ten parties have officially dissolved, mostly through mergers with other parities.

Still, new parties continued to be established. Seven new parties were formed in the 1970s (including the Justice Party, Singapore and the United Front, the preprocessor of today's Democratic Progressive Party), two in the 1980s (the Singapore Democratic Party and the National Solidarity Party (NSP)), two in the 1990s (the Singapore National Front and the Singapore People's Party (SPP)), three in the 2000s, and as of now, two in the 2010s. The newest party, the Socialist Front was established on 1 September 2010. There are therefore a total of 28 registered political parties today, of which eight have never contested in an election.

Over the years, alliances between political parties existed, but most did not last long. There are at present only one functioning multi-party alliance, the Singapore Democratic Alliance, which was formed on 3 July 2001, initially composed of the SPP, NSP, Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura and the Justice Party, Singapore, with the SPP 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. 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.

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:

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[1] 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 of the Workers' Party in 1988. Critics noted that the Singapore government itself was responsible for giving $20,00 to Australian political parties through (Singtel-owned) Optus,[2] although the motives and details of the donation remain unverified.

Last parliamentary election results

 Summary of the 11 Sep 2015 Parliament of Singapore election results[3]
Parties and alliances Leader Contested seats Divs won Seats won Popular vote % of valid votes +/- % of valid votes in wards contested by party +/-
SMC GRC Divs Total
4m 5m 6m
People's Action Party Lee Hsien Loong 13 6 8 2 29 89 27 83 1,576,784 69.86
 
Increase 9.72 69.86
 
Increase 9.72
Workers' Party Low Thia Khiang 5 2 3 0 10 28 2 6 281,697 12.48
 
Decrease 0.34 39.75
 
Decrease 6.83
Singapore Democratic Party Chee Soon Juan 3 2 0 0 5 11 0 0 84,770 3.76
 
Decrease 1.07 31.23
 
Decrease 5.53
National Solidarity Party Sebastian Teo 2 0 2 0 4 12 0 0 79,780 3.53
 
Decrease 8.51 25.27
 
Decrease 13.98
Reform Party Kenneth Jeyaretnam 1 1 0 1 3 11 0 0 59,432 2.63
 
Decrease 1.65 20.60
 
Decrease 11.18
Singaporeans First Tan Jee Say 0 0 2 0 2 10 0 0 50,791 2.25
 
New 21.49
 
New
Singapore People's Party Lina Chiam 3 0 1 0 4 8 0 0 49,015 2.17
 
Decrease 0.94 27.08
 
Decrease 14.34
Singapore Democratic Alliance Desmond Lim 0 0 0 1 1 6 0 0 46,508 2.06
 
Decrease 0.72 27.11
 
Decrease 2.95
People's Power Party Goh Meng Seng 0 1 0 0 1 4 0 0 25,460 1.13
 
New 23.11
 
New
Independents N/A 2 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 2,779 0.12
 
N/A 10.10
 
N/A
Valid votes 29 89 2,257,016 97.95% of total votes cast
Invalid (e.g. blank or spoilt) votes 47,315 2.05% of total votes cast
Total votes cast 2,304,331 Voter turnout: 93.56% of eligible voters
Did not vote 158,595
Eligible voters (excluding walkover voters) 2,462,926
Walkover voters 0
Electorate 2,462,926

Political parties

Party Other/ Previous name(s) Established Registered Dissolved Years contested Accumulative
votes
Average
votes
URL Facebook URL
Singapore Alliance Party
新加坡联盟党
Parti Perikatan Singapura
Singapore Alliance or Perikatan Singapura (1963–1965) 30 May 1963 17 February 1966 NA 1963 48,967 48,967
Angkatan Islam
Islamic Movement
回教阵线
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party or
Persatuan Islam Setanah Melayu (1958–1967)
- 6 August 1958 NA 1959, 1963, 1984, 1988 3,195 799
Barisan Sosialis
Socialist Front
社会主义阵线
- 29 July 1961 13 August 1961 1988 1963, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984 293,895 58,779
Citizens' Party
公民党
Parti Warganegara
- 25 February 1959 - 13 September 1960 1959 3,210 3,210
Democratic Party
民主党
Parti Demokratik
- 11 February 1955 - 5 February 1956 1955 32,115 32,115
Democratic Progressive Party
民主进步党
Parti Demokratik Progresif
United Front (1973–1982)
Singapore United Front (1982–1991)
- 16 March 1973 NA 1976, 1980, 1984, 1997, 2001, 2015 (with SPP) 178,509 35,702
Justice Party
新加坡正义党
Parti Keadilan Singapura
Singapore Justice Party (Used in GE of 1976, 1980) - 10 August 1972 NA 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1991
(2001, 2006, 2011, 2015 with SDA)
51,258 10,252
Katong United Residents' Association
加东居民统一工会
Persatuan Penduduk Bersatu Katong
- 11 January 1959 - 23 June 1960 1959 1,759 1,759
Labour Front
劳工阵线
Barisan Buroh
- 21 August 1954 - 28 February 1960 1955, 1959 45,714 22,857
Labour Party
劳工党
Parti Buroh
- 23 March 1948 - 1961 1951 7,335 7,335
Liberal Socialist Party
自由社会党
Parti Liberal Sosialis
- 5 February 1956 24 May 1961 10 September 1963 1959 42,805 42,805
National Party of Singapore
新加坡国民党
Parti Nasional Singapura
- - 26 February 1971 NA Never contested NA NA
National Solidarity Party
国民团结党
Parti Perpaduan Nasional
- - 6 March 1987 NA 1988, 1991, 1997
(2001, 2006 with SDA), 2011, 2015
156,060 99,607
Partai Rakyat
People's Party (Singapore State Division)
人民党 (新加坡州部)
- 11 November 195518 June 1962 NA 1959, 196310,2655,133
Parti Kesatuan Ra'ayat
United Democratic Party
民主统一党
- - 18 June 1962 NA 1963760760
People's Action Party
人民行动党
Parti Tindakan Rakyat
- 21 November 1954 18 February 1961 NA 1955, 1959, 1963, 1968, 1972,
1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1991,
1997, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2015
5,822,335 502354
People's Front
人民阵线
Barisan Rakyat
- - 21 May 1971 NA 1972, 1976 25,280 12,640
People's Liberal Democratic Party
人民自由民主党
Parti Liberal Demokratik Rakyat
- - 2 May 2006 NA Never contested NA NA
People's Power Party
人民力量党
Parti Kuasa Rakyat
- - 15 May 2015 NA 2015 NA NA
People's Republican Party
人民共和党
Parti Rakyat Republik
- - 30 August 1973 NA Never contested NA NA
Persatuan Melayu Singapura
Singapore Malays Association
新加坡马来人协会
- - 2 February 1952 NA Never contested NA NA
Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura
Singapore Malay National Organisation
新加坡马来国民机构
Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu or
United Malays National Organisation (1951–1967)
23 December 1951 20 February 1961 NA 1955, 1959, 1972, 1976, 1980,
1984, 1988, 1991 (2001, 2006, 2011, 2015 with SDA)
97,044 12,131
Progressive Party
进步党
Parti Progresif
- 25 August 1947 - 10 May 1956 1948, 1951, 1955 61,651 20,550
Reform Party
革新党
Parti Reformasi
- - 3 July 2008 NA 2011, 2015 86,294 86,294
Singapore Chinese Party
新加坡华人党
Parti Cina Singapura
Malayan Chinese Association (1950–1967) - 26 September 1950 NA 1955, 1959 (1972 under UNF)11,7965,898
Singapore Congress
新加坡国民大会党
Kongres Singapura
- 9 May 1960 - 29 January 1962 1961 (By)
Singapore Democratic Alliance
新加坡民主联盟
Perikatan Demokratik Singapura
- - 3 July 2001 NA 2001, 2006, 2011, 2015 276,808 92,269
Singapore Democratic Party
新加坡民主党
Parti Demokratik Singapura
- 6 August 1980 8 September 1980 NA 1980, 1984, 1988, 1991, 1997,
2001, 2006, 2011, 2015
468,264 70,688
Singapore Indian Congress
新加坡印度国民大会党
Kongres India Singapura
Singapore Regional Indian Congress (1946–1953)
Malayan Indian Congress (1953–1968)
Aug 1946 7 August 1962 NA 1959 2,092 2,092
Malay Union
新加坡马来人联合会
Kesatuan Melayu Singapura
- 14 May 1926 - 1961 1955, 1957 (By-election), 1959 4,052 2,026
Singapore National Front
新加坡国民阵线
Barisan Nasional Singapura
- - 15 August 1991 NA Never contested NA NA
Singapore People's Alliance
新加坡人民联盟
Perikatan Rakyat Singapura
- 10 November 1958 - 16 May 1965 1959 107,755 107,755
Singapore People's Party
新加坡人民党
Parti Rakyat Singapura
- - 21 November 1994 NA 1997 (2001, 2006 with SDA), 2011, 2015 16,746 39,625
Singaporeans First
国人为先
Warga Diutamakan
- 25 May 2014 19 August 2014 NA 2015 NA NA
Socialist Front
社会主义阵线
Barisan Sosialis
- - 1 September 2010 NA Never contested NA NA
United National Front
联合国民阵线
Barisan Nasional Bersatu
- - 6 March 1970 NA 1972 55,001 55,001
United People's Front
人民联合阵线
Barisan Rakyat Bersatu
- - 20 March 1975 NA 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988 87,318 21,830
United People's Party
人民统一党
Parti Ra'ayat Bersatu
- - 14 July 1961 1968 1963 48,785 48,785
United Singapore Democrats
统一新加坡民主党
Demokrat Singapura Bersatu
- - 25 March 2010 NA Never contested NA NA
Workers' Party
工人党
Parti Pekerja
- 3 November 1957 30 January 1961 NA 1959, 1963, 1968, 1972, 1976,
1980, 1984, 1988, 1991, 1997,
2001, 2006, 2011, 2015
1,239,577 95,352

Other defunct 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.

Party Shirt Colour
People's Action Party White
Workers' Party Light Blue
Singapore People's Party Red and White
Singapore Democratic Party Red
National Solidarity Party Orange
Reform Party Yellow
Singapore Democratic Alliance Bright Green
Democratic Progressive Party White and Orange
Singaporeans First Blue
People's Power Party Light Purple

See also

References

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