Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President TONY TAN Keng Yam
• Head of Government: Prime Minister LEE Hsien Loong
• Assembly: Singapore has a unicameral Parliament with 99 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by plurality vote to serve a 6-year term.
• The Prime Minister, typically the leader of the majority party, is appointed by the President.
• In the Parliament, 12 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms, 75 members are elected through a group representation constituency (GRC) system to serve 5-year terms, 9 members are nominated by the President and 3 members are appointed from a national compensatory list to serve 5-year terms.*

* Out of the 85 elected representatives, 12 are elected through single member districts, and 75 in Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs). Singapore has 27 electoral constituencies. Each GRC has a district magnitude of four, five or six. Each party must present a list of candidates to fill each of the seats. Electors vote for one list, and the list with the most votes wins all the seats. One member of each list is required to be a member of the Malay, the Indian or another minority community. Independents may technically run in the GRCs, but they must do so on a joint-list. Non-constituency Members of Parliament (NCMPs) are appointed to ensure representation in Parliament from political parties not forming the government. As per the constitution, the number of NCMPs is nine less the amount of opposition MPs.