THE committee that reviews Singapore’s electoral boundaries and divisions has been formed, said Elections Department (ELD) on Wednesday (Jan 22).
With the formation of the committee, the next General Election (GE) – due by November 2025 – could be just months away.
The EBRC has received certain terms of reference for its review. Namely, in determining the number and size of group representation constituencies (GRCs) and single member constituencies (SMCs), the committee should seek to keep certain parameters “at about the same as that in the last general election”: the average size of GRCs, the proportion of Members of Parliament (MPs) elected from SMCs, and the average ratio of electors to elected MPs.
The EBRC is in the midst of deliberations and will make its recommendations to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong when it has completed its review.
The committee is chaired by Tan Kee Yong, secretary to the prime minister.
Road to GE
The EBRC is appointed by the prime minister. Its role is to review and redraw electoral boundaries, as well as to recommend how many Members of Parliament, single seats and Group Representation Constituencies there should be.
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Historically, the EBRC has taken two to seven months to release its reports, with Polling Day happening half a month to four months afterwards.
After the committee’s report is published, the next step towards a GE is for Parliament to be dissolved and the Writ of Election issued. This typically happens within days of the report’s release.
The writ specifies the date of Nomination Day, which must be no earlier than five days and no later than a month after the writ is issued.
Campaigning begins on Nomination Day after the notice of contested election is issued, with the law requiring at least ten days between then and Polling Day. The day immediately before Polling Day is Cooling-off Day, when campaigning is not allowed.
Of the 13 GEs since Singapore’s independence in 1965, three each were in September and December each; two were in May; and one was in January, April, July, August and November each.
This year’s GE will be PM Wong’s first as prime minister, and thus the first in nearly 20 years without former prime minister Lee Hsien Loong at the helm.
In Singapore’s last GE in 2020, the ruling People’s Action Party maintained its parliamentary majority with 83 out of 93 seats, but its vote share declined to 61.2 per cent from 69.9 per cent in 2015.
PM Wong said last November that he had not decided when to hold the elections.
