eld.gov.sg Electoral Divisions Types : Elections Department Singapore

Organisation : Elections Department Singapore
Facility : Types Of Electoral Divisions
Country : Singapore

Electoral Divisions Types : http://www.eld.gov.sg/elections_type_electoral.html
Home Page : http://www.eld.gov.sg/homepage.html

Types Of Electoral Divisions :
Electoral divisions (also called constituencies) are areas within Singapore demarcated by the Prime Minister by law for the purposes of parliamentary elections and presidential elections.

Each electoral division is sub-divided into many smaller areas known as polling districts and each polling district will have its own polling station.

A register of electors is prepared for each electoral division.

There are 2 types of electoral divisions or constituencies in Singapore :
** Single Member Constituencies (SMCs)
** Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs)

Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) :
** An SMC is an electoral division that has a single Member of Parliament (MP) representing the interests of those residents in the constituency.

** Thus, during a by-election in the SMC or a general election, the registered electors of the SMC will vote for a single individual to be their MP.

** The Parliamentary Elections Act requires that there must be at least 8 SMCs at any time.

Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) :
** A GRC is a larger electoral division, both in terms of population as well as physical area. A group of Members of Parliament (MPs) represents the interests of those residents in the constituency.

** Thus, during a general election or by-election in the GRC, the registered electors of the GRC will vote for a group of individuals to be their MPs, who must be from the same political party or are all Independents.

** The group may be made up of 3, 4, 5 or 6 individuals. The President declares the group number for each GRC by law.

** At least one of the MPs in the group representing a GRC must belong to a minority racial community, either the Malay community or the Indian and other minority communities.

** By law, the President designates the GRCs for which at least one of the MPs in the constituency must belong to one of these minority racial communities. However, the number of GRCs that can be designated as those belonging to the Malay community cannot be more than three-fifths the total number of GRCs, rounded to the next higher whole number.

** The GRC system was established in 1988 to ensure that the minority racial communities in Singapore will always be represented in Parliament. To ensure this, the Parliamentary Elections Act requires that at least one-quarter of the total number of MPs must be representatives of GRCs.

There are a total of 2,462,926 electors in the registers of electors of the 29 electoral divisions as of 25 Aug 2015. The list of electoral divisions and the number of electors in each electoral division is set out below.

Table A: SMCs
SMC Name | No. of Electors :
Bukit Batok 27,077
Bukit Panjang 34,317
Fengshan 23,427
Hong Kah North 28,145
Hougang 24,097
MacPherson 28,511
Mountbatten 24,143
Pioneer 25,458
Potong Pasir 17,407
Punggol East 34,466
Radin Mas 28,906
Sengkang West 30,119
Yuhua 22,617

Table B: GRCs with at least one member belonging to the
Malay community :
GRC Name | No. of MPs | No. of Electors :
Aljunied 5 148,142
Bishan-Toa Payoh 5 129,975
Chua Chu Kang 4 119,931
East Coast 4 99,118
Jalan Besar 4 102,540
Marine Parade 5 146,244
Marsiling-Yew Tee 4 107,599
Pasir Ris-Punggol 6 187,396
Sembawang 5 144,672
Tampines 5 143,518

Table C: GRCs with at least one mem ber belonging to theIndian or other minority communities
GRC Name | No. of MPs | No. of Electors :
Ang Mo Kio 6 187,771
Holland-Bukit Timah 4 104,491
Jurong 5 130,498
Nee Soon 5 132,289
Tanjong Pagar 5 130,752
West Coast 4 99,300