Asia > South-Eastern Asia > Singapore > Singapore Government Profile

Singapore: Singapore Government Profile

2015/02/17

President: Tony Tan

Tony Tan, a former deputy prime minister, won the 2011 presidential election by a narrow margin. He was seen as the establishment candidate.

All four candidates in the election - the first of its kind for 18 years - shared the same surname, Tan.

Presidential candidates run as individuals because Singapore's head of state is supposed to be non-partisan.

Prime minister: Lee Hsien Loong

The elder son of Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew, Lee Hsien Loong took office in August 2004, without an election, as part of a planned handover of power.

He vowed to continue the policy of opening up Singapore's society.
 

Mr Lee won re-election with typically large PAP majorities in 2006 and 2011. However, the opposition made some significant gains in 2011, spurred by voter concern about income inequality and immigration.

The prime minister said the election marked a "shift in the political landscape", and said his party would undergo "soul-searching".

A former army officer, Mr Lee followed his father into politics at the age of 32, becoming deputy prime minister in 1990.

As finance minister in his predecessor's cabinet, he was credited with helping to secure Singapore's competitive edge amid growing competition from China.

Mr Lee's father, who oversaw the transformation of Singapore into an economic power, served as the cabinet's official mentor between 2004 and 2011, when he said it was time to make way for a younger generation.

Government type: 

parliamentary republic

Administrative divisions: 

none

Independence: 

9 August 1965 (from Malaysian Federation)

National holiday: 

National Day, 9 August (1965)

Constitution: 

3 June 1959; amended 1965 (based on pre-independence State of Singapore Constitution)

Legal system: 

based on English common law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage: 

21 years of age; universal and compulsory

Legislative branch: 

unicameral Parliament (84 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms); note - in addition, there are up to nine nominated members; up to three losing opposition candidates who came closest to winning seats may be appointed as "nonconstituency" members

Judicial branch: 

Supreme Court (chief justice is appointed by the president with the advice of the prime minister, other judges are appointed by the president with the advice of the chief justice); Court of Appeals

Political parties and leaders : 

People's Action Party or PAP [LEE Hsien Loong]; Reform Party [NG Teck Siong]; Singapore Democratic Alliance or SDA [CHIAM See Tong]; Singapore Democratic Party or SDP [CHEE Soon Juan]; Workers' Party or WP [Sylvia LIM Swee Lian]

Political pressure groups and leaders: 

none

International organization participation: 

ADB, APEC, APT, ARF, ASEAN, BIS, C, CP, EAS, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, NAM, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNMIT, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Flag description: 

two equal horizontal bands of red (top) and white; near the hoist side of the red band, there is a vertical, white crescent (closed portion is toward the hoist side) partially enclosing five white five-pointed stars arranged in a circle