List of political parties in Singapore

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:

• 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^[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		9.72	69.86		9.72
Workers' Party	Low Thia Khiang	5	2	3	0	10	28	2	6	281,697	12.48		0.34	39.75		6.83
Singapore Democratic Party	Chee Soon Juan	3	2	0	0	5	11	0	0	84,770	3.76		1.07	31.23		5.53
National Solidarity Party	Sebastian Teo	2	0	2	0	4	12	0	0	79,780	3.53		8.51	25.27		13.98
Reform Party	Kenneth Jeyaretnam	1	1	0	1	3	11	0	0	59,432	2.63		1.65	20.60		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		0.94	27.08		14.34
Singapore Democratic Alliance	Desmond Lim	0	0	0	1	1	6	0	0	46,508	2.06		0.72	27.11		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 1955	18 June 1962	NA	1959, 1963	10,265	5,133
Parti Kesatuan Ra'ayat United Democratic Party 民主统一党	-	-	18 June 1962	NA	1963	760	760
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)	11,796	5,898
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

• Malayan Communist Party
• Malayan Democratic Union (dissolved in 1948)
• Singapore Socialist Party (merged to form Labour Front)

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

• Politics of Singapore
• List of political parties by country
• Non-constituency Member of Parliament
• Constituencies of Singapore

References

1. http://www.mha.gov.sg/basic_content.aspx?pageid=66
2. http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/02/01/mayne-sifting-through-the-political-donations-data/
3. 2015 Parliamentary Election Results, Elections Department, 14 September 2015, archived from the original on 14 September 2015; "GE2015: Live Results", The Straits Times, 12 September 2015, retrieved 14 September 2015.

External links

• Political parties in Singapore