Find out more about Singapore’s unique political system. Here is a curated collection of readings, webinars and video explainers on the government and General Elections. Journal articles and book chapters are available for free download courtesy of the authors and publishers.

ONE-PARTY DOMINANCE

A ‘New Normal’ : Towards a One-and-a-half Party System? By Lam Peng Er. Voting in a Time of Change: Singapore’s 2020 General Election (2021)

• What GE2020 suggests about the future of Singapore’s parliamentary democracy.

Democratic Backsliding in Illiberal Singapore. By Netina Tan and Cassandra Preece. Asian Journal of Comparative Politics. (6 December 2022) 9(1)

• Accountability remains weak in Singapore’s technocratic, soft authoritarian regime. The PAP government has returned to relying on the law as a ‘fist in velvet glove’ to muzzle dissent and constrain information.

The State Prunes the Banyan Tree: Calibrated Liberalisation in Singapore. By Pravin Prakash and Walid Jumblatt Abdullah. Australian Journal of International Affairs (21 February 2022) 76(4)

• A key strategy explaining PAP dominance is its use of selective liberalisation.

“New Normal” No More: Democratic Backsliding in Singapore After 2015.  By Walid Jumblatt Abdullah. Democratization (18 May 2020) 27(7)

• After GE2015, the PAP reverted to its familiar authoritarian strategy. This was possible because of the absence of a strong and coherent opposition and genuine reformers within the ruling party.

Singapore in 2022: Resolving Political Succession amid Growing Geopolitical Uncertainties. By Bilveer Singh. Asian Survey (1 April 2023) 63(2)

• Singapore appears to be at a crossroads, with political changes at home being challenged by external developments.

VOTING PATTERNS

Explaining Elections in Singapore: Party Resilience and Valence Politics. By Steven Oliver and Kai Ostwald. Journal of East Asian Studies (9 February 2018) 18(2)

• The PAP has used its dominant position to reshape voter preferences in line with its comparative advantages.

Ethnicity, Gender and the Vote in Singapore. By Netina Tan. Voting in a Time of Change: Singapore’s 2020 General Election (2021)

• Ethnic minorities proved electable; all-male GRC teams performed poorly.

Freak Elections. By Cherian George. Singapore, Incomplete: Reflections on a First World Nation’s Arrested Political Development (2017)

• The Singapore electorate has been remarkably consistent in the way it uses its vote, but it can be manipulated by disinformation.

RULING PARTY DYNAMICS

Introduction: PAP v PAP: The Party’s struggle to adapt to a changing Singapore. By Donald Low and Cherian George. PAP v PAP: The Party’s struggle to adapt to a changing Singapore (2020)

• Choices facing the PAP leadership following the 2020 setback.

The Dogma behind POFMA. By Cherian George. Air-Conditioned Nation Revisited: Essays on Singapore Politics (2020)

• POFMA indicates that the next generation of PAP leaders are content to retain their governance model.

Complementary Institutions in Authoritarian Regimes: The Everyday Politics of Constituency Service in Singapore. By Elvin Ong. Journal of East Asian Studies (December 2015) 15(3)

• The ruling party’s constituency service through MPSs help compensate for the weaknesses of other authoritarian institutions, just entrenching Singapore’s authoritarian system.

Elite Cohesion. By Cherian George. Singapore, Incomplete: Reflections on a First World Nation’s Arrested Political Development (2017)

• The Lee Family feud tested Singapore’s uniquely strong establishment unity.

Future-proofing the PAP. By Cherian George. Air-Conditioned Nation Revisited: Essays on Singapore Politics (2020)

• The 2015 election underscored the PAP’s ability to respond to electoral setbacks but also showed a reluctance to address systemic faults.

OPPOSITION PARTIES

Hel-LO, goodbye? It’s time to establish the Leader of the Opposition in law. By Kevin Y.L. Tan. AcademiaSG Academic Viewpoints (26 February 2026)

• The office should be formally institutionalised, Tan argues, and the constitution amended such that the Speaker of Parliament is independent of any political party.

Introduction. By Loke Hoe Yeong.  The First Wave: JBJ, Chiam & the Opposition in Singapore (2019)

• Singapore’s post-independence opposition has a history of ups and downs that doesn’t conform with theories about democratic waves. 

Opposition Coordination in Singapore’s 2015 General Elections. By Elvin Ong. The Round Table (29 February 2016) 105(2)

• What the conflict between the Workers’ Party and the National Solidarity Party in GE2015 says about opposition coordination.

Singapore’s 2011 General Elections and Beyond: Beating the PAP at its Own Game. By Elvin Ong and Moh Hui Tim. Asian Survey (1 August 2014) 54(4)

• Opposition parties face a “credibility gap” that WP has dealt with better than others.

THE POLITICAL SYSTEM

How the drawing of electoral boundaries challenges the principle of equality. By Kevin Y.L. Tan. AcademiaSG Academic Viewpoints (26 May 2021) 

• The lack of clear guidelines on the PM’s administrative discretion in convening the EBRC, among other factors, necessitates the creation of an independent and permanent electoral boundaries committee, Tan argues.

Delineation and Discretion: The Drawing of Electoral Boundaries in Singapore. By Kevin Y.L. Tan. Voting in a Time of Change: Singapore’s 2020 General Election (2021)

• How Singapore’s controversial boundary drawing system emerged.

Revisiting the GRC system’s ‘guarantee’ of minority representation. By Priscilla Chia. AcademiaSG Academic Viewpoints (1 June 2021) 

• GE2020 provides signs that the GRC scheme may no longer be relevant in light of the changing needs and aspirations of voters, Chia argues.

Electoral manipulation, opposition power, and institutional change: Contesting for electoral reform in Singapore, Malaysia, and Cambodia. By Elvin Ong. Electoral Studies (August 2018) 54

• The absence of simple electoral malpractice conceals other forms of manipulation, such as redistricting, which are not perceived by the electorate as violating the democratic principles.

Pre-Electoral Malpractice, Gerrymandering and its Effects on Singapore’s 2015 GE. By Netina Tan. Change in Voting: Singapore’s 2015 General Election (2015)

• The redrawing of constituency boundaries have sparked allegations of gerrymandering. The process calls for non-partisan technical experts, statisticians or judges.

The Singapore Parliament: Representation, Effectiveness, and Control. By Kenneth Paul Tan. Parliaments in Asia: Institutional Building and Political Development (2013)

• The PAP has innovated on the Westminster model to balance representation and effectiveness, while legitimising and strengthening its authoritarian rule.

The People’s Action Party and Political Liberalization in Singapore. By Kenneth Paul Tan. Political Parties, Party Systems and Democratization in East Asia (March 2011)

• Several political innovations officially justified in terms that are supportive of democracy increased the PAP government’s capacity and legitimacy to control.

CAMPAIGNING

“Negative Campaigning” Explainer. By Cherian George. AcademiaSG Explainer (17 April 2025)

• What the tricky concept refers to, and when it can be the most harmful.

Analyses of past General Elections

GE 2025

Building a Democratic Society: A Role for Many Helping Hands. By Cherian George. AcademiaSG Academic Viewpoints (15 May 2025)

• Singaporeans must press for reform in between general elections, particularly in regard to national media and the the system for drawing electoral boundaries, George argues.

GE2025 Manifestos Database. By Kirsten Han. We, The Citizens (2025)

Policies and Promises: Comparing GE 2025 Party Manifestos. By Abhishek Mehrotra and Sudhir Vadaketh. Jom Media (6 May 2025)

GE 2020

GE2020: Singapore’s Day of Decision and the Challenge of a Generation. By Cherian George and Donald Low. AcademiaSG Academic Viewpoints. (13 July 2020)  

• Leaders and citizens should step forward to support a more participatory and deliberative democracy, the authors argue.

Democracy and Active Citizenship Are Not Just About the Elections’: Youth Civic and Political Participation During and Beyond Singapore’s Nine-day Pandemic Election (GE2020). By Jin Yao Kwan. YOUNG (3 December 2021) 30(3)

• Singaporean youths engaged in both conventional and digital activism during GE2020 to raise awareness and take action. They continued their civic and political engagement beyond the election.

The Role of Digital Media in Singapore’s General Election 2020. By Carol Soon and Neo Yee Win. Southeast Asian Affairs 2021. (2021) 

• Covid-19 restrictions meant no election rallies, giving digital media unprecedented importance in GE2020.

A Non-issue at GE2020: The Opposition, Town Councils and Grassroots Organisations. By Jason Lim. Voting in a Time of Change (2021)

• The probe into the Opposition-held Aljunied–Hougang Town Council could have scared off voters, but did not.

GE 2015

Singapore’s Dominant Party System. By Kenneth Paul Tan. Governing Global-City Singapore: Legacies and Futures after Lee Kuan Yew (2017)

• The PAP’s strong performance bucked the recent trend, showing the durability of its substantial performance legitimacy

New Normal Or Anomaly? 2015 General Election and PAP’s Electoral Landslide. By Lam Peng Er. Change in Voting: Singapore’s 2015 General Election (2015)

• Explaining the dramatic swing back to the PAP between the 2011 and 2015 elections.

The Pragmatics of Change: Singapore’s 2015 General Election. By Terence Lee. Change in Voting: Singapore’s 2015 General Election (2015)

• After 2011, the PAP identified and responded to its failures. The PAP also benefited from the LKY Effect and SG50.

GE2015 Survey: Post-Election Insights on Voting in Singapore (Slides). By Bridget Welsh (2015)

• Singaporeans wanted a stronger opposition, but were divided on the opposition’s performance in Parliament and at the grassroots.

The Presidency

Tharman Shanmugaratnam was elected Singapore’s ninth head of state after a landslide victory in the 2023 Presidential election. 

Shanmugaratnam’s predecessor, Halimah Yacob, began her six-year term in 2017 following an election that, for the first time, was reserved for Malay candidates. Candidates cannot be affiliated to any political party on the date of nomination. Candidates must obtain a Certificate of Eligibility from the Presidential Election Committee (PEC). They must also have their ethnicity ascertained by the Community Committee.

Academic analyses of the Presidency have focused on the Constitutional reforms that converted it from a largely ceremonial Westminster-style Head of State, to a popularly elected post with certain discretionary powers over the government’s use of Singapore’s reserves and senior appointments in the Public Services. More recent works have examined the creation of reserved elections to ensure that ethnic minorities periodically occupy the position.

HISTORY

From Eligibility to Election: The Mechanics of the Presidential Poll. By Jack Tsen-Ta Lee. Constitutional Change in Singapore: Reforming the Elected Presidency (23 July 2021)

• The mechanics of how presidential elections are conducted, including candidate eligibility.

Grappling with the paradoxes of presidential power. By Cherian George. Singapore: The Air-Conditioned Nation (2000) 

• Designed for stability, the elected Presidency produced surprising results in its early years.

CHECKS AND BALANCE OR POLITICAL CONSOLIDATION?

Working Out the Presidency: The Rites of Passage. By Thio Li-Ann. Singapore Journal of Legal Studies (December 1995)

• Assessing the extent to which the Presidency limits government powers.

Singapore: (S)electing the President – Diluting Democracy? By Thio Li-Ann. International Journal of Constitutional Law (1 July 2007) 5(3)

• Singapore’s elected presidency model, entailing election by default, risks undermining democracy.

The People’s Action Party and the Singapore Presidency in 2017: Understanding the Contradictions between State Discourse and State Practice. By Mohamed Nawab Mohamed Osman and Prashant Waikar. Asian Survey (1 April 2019) 59(2)

• The criticality of the presidential institution remains marred by internal contradictions.

Tweaking the Singapore Presidential System. By Gillian Koh and Tan Min-Wei. IPS Commons (13 October 2014)

• The significance of voter education to the presidency.

Enhancing the Elected Presidency System. By Gillian Koh and Tan Min-Wei. IPS Commons (24 November 2015)

• Three limitations to the current presidency, and ways forward around.

Presidential Pardon in Singapore: A Comment on Yong Vui Kong v Attorney-General. By Shubhankar Dam. Common Law World Review (March 2013) 42(1)

• Are decisions on presidential pardons bound by Cabinet decisions and subject to judicial review?

REPRESENTATION AND SYMBOLISM

Difficult Conversations about Cultural Diversity. By Cherian George. PAP v PAP: The Party’s struggle to adapt to a changing Singapore (2020)

• The racialised election of 2017 was symptomatic of problems with the PAP’s approach to managing diversity.

Singapore’s Elected President: A Failed Institution. By Garry Rodan. Australian Journal of International Affairs (12 November 2017) 72(1)

• The 2017 Presidential Election was indicative of a systemic failure.

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Other references and resources

Parliament of Singapore official site: Includes educational resources and explainers about Singapore’s system of government.

Elections Department official site: Includes latest press releases, and voter education resources.

Past election results: Non-government Singapore Elections database; Elections Department database.

NGO/thinktank reports: ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights report on Singapore.

CAPE: Student-run political literacy portal.

New Naratif: Independent website with voter education resources.