By-elections in Singapore are elections held to fill seats in the Parliament of Singapore that fall vacant in between general elections, known as casual vacancies. In the past, the Government of Singapore took the position that the Prime Minister had discretion whether or not a by-election should be called to fill a casual vacancy in a Single Member Constituency, and could leave a parliamentary seat unfilled until the next general election. However, in the case of Vellama d/o Marie Muthu v. Attorney-General (2013), which arose from a vacancy in Hougang Single Member Constituency, the Court of Appeal held that the Constitution of Singapore obliges the Prime Minister to call a by-election unless a general election is going to be held in the near future. However, a by-election need only be called within a reasonable time, and the Prime Minister has the discretion to determine when it should be held.
The law provides that a by-election need only be called in a Group Representation Constituency (GRC) if all the Members of Parliament (MPs) in the GRC vacate their seats. It has been argued that the law should be amended, otherwise electors living in a GRC where a vacancy has arisen will lack parliamentary representation, and with a missing MP the remaining MPs may find it difficult to deal with constituency matters. Also, if the MP who vacates their seat is from a minority community and the seat is not filled, as indeed occurred when Halimah Yacob resigned to stand for the presidency in 2017, this would defeat the purpose of the GRC scheme, which is to ensure a minimum level of minority representation in Parliament. In response, the Government has said that mandating all remaining MPs in a GRC to vacate their seats upon the loss of one minority MP effectively enables the latter to hold the former to ransom;. the other MPs of the GRC continue to represent the electors and should be able to handle constituency matters without any problems; and as the purpose of GRCs is to ensure minority representation at the national rather than local level, the loss of one minority MP in one GRC should not make much difference in practice as there remain other minority MPs in Parliament.
Non-constituency Members of Parliament (NCMPs) are only declared to be elected at general elections, and there is no provision for the seat of an NCMP to be filled if it falls vacant. On the other hand, if a Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) vacates their seat, a Special Select Committee of Parliament may nominate a replacement to be appointed by the President.
Due to the numerous aforementioned constraints imposed, by-elections in Singapore are rare and have only been held 11 times since the independence of Singapore in 1965, the latest being the by-election held in 2016 to fill a vacancy arising in Bukit Batok Single Member Constituency.
History
The Constitution of the Republic of Singapore. embraces a system of representative democracy where Singapore citizens elect a government which governs on their behalf.. Elections are held to elect democratic representatives who will then form the government.
A by-election is an election held to fill a parliamentary seat that falls vacant between general elections. Such an occurrence is called a casual vacancy. In Singapore, a constitutional provision governing by-elections was first included in the Singapore Colony Order in Council 1955,Singapore Colony Order in Council 1955 (Statutory Instrument (S.I.) 1955 No. 187, UK), made on 1 February 1955 and in force on 8 February 1955. which was issued after a constitutional commission chaired by Sir George William Rendel. recommended that the Legislative Council of Singapore be transformed into a Legislative Assembly with mostly elected members.Vellama d/o Marie Muthu v. Attorney-General SGHC 155, 4 S.L.R. [Singapore Law Reports] 698 at 729, para. 92, High Court (Singapore), archived from the original on 24 April 2014 ("Vellama (H.C.)"). Section 51(2) of the Order in Council stated: "Whenever the seat of an Elected Member of the Assembly becomes vacant, the vacancy shall be filled by election in accordance with the provisions of this Order."Vellama (H.C.), pp. 730–731, para. 96. Section 44 of the Singapore (Constitution) Order in Council 1958Singapore (Constitution) Order in Council 1958 (S.I. 1958 No. 1956, UK), made on 21 November 1958 and in force on 28 November 1958: see Vellama (H.C.), p. 731–732, paras. 99–100. For more information on the 1958 Constitution, see . was a similar provision.Section 44 stated: "Whenever it appears to the Speaker that the seat of a Member has become vacant, he shall, by writing under his hand, report such vacancy to the Yang di-Pertuan Negara, and the vacancy shall be filled by election in the manner provided by or under any law for the time being in force in Singapore."
Subsequently, upon Singapore's merger with the Federation of Malaysia, a provision requiring by-elections to be held within a certain period was incorporated into the Constitution of the State of Singapore 1963.Constitution of the State of Singapore 1963 in the Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore (State Constitutions) Order in Council 1963 (S.I. 1963 No. 1493, UK; reprinted as Gazette Notification (G.N.) Sp. No. S 1/1963), which was enacted under the Malaysia Act 1963 (1963 c. 35, UK), s. 4. Article 33, which was similar to Article 54 of the Constitution of Malaysia,Originally the Federal Constitution Ordinance 1957 (No. 55 of 1957, Malaysia), and now the Federal Constitution (2006 Reprint, Malaysia), archived from the original on 1 December 2012. stipulated that a by-election had to be called within three months of a parliamentary seat being vacated in the middle of a parliamentary term:Constitution of the State of Singapore 1963, Art. 33.
The clause "within three months from the date on which it was established that there is a vacancy" was removed after Singapore's independence on 9 August 1965, restoring Singapore's pre-merger position. In a 2008 parliamentary debate, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong explained that the amendment was motivated by the instability of the Legislative Assembly in Singapore's earlier history. Several assemblymen had crossed over from the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) to form an opposition party, the Barisan Sosialis, in 1961, leaving the PAP with a hairline majority of one member in the Legislative Assembly. The situation was made worse by the death of PAP minister Ahmad Ibrahim on 21 August 1962 as it destroyed the PAP's parliamentary majority, putting the party at risk of a motion of no confidence against it.. Law professor Thio Li-ann has commented that in this scenario the obligation to hold a by-election within three months could determine which party held a majority of the Parliament or trigger a no-confidence motion that could "cause the demise of a sitting government".. By-elections could thus "determine the fortunes of a political party, for good or ill",. and, according to the Prime Minister, this was considered undesirable because it distracted the country from "other more pressing concerns" and therefore tended to cause instability and inefficiency.Lee, "Parliamentary Elections" (27 August 2008), col. 3401.
Article 49(1) of the Constitution, which is the provision governing by-elections in Singapore today, does not stipulate a time limit within which a vacant parliamentary seat must be filled. During the 2008 parliamentary debate, the Prime Minister asserted that he had discretion to decide when a by-election should be called, if at all. He described the legal framework as his Government understood it as facilitating the efficient execution of the Government's policies, because political parties rather than individual candidates exist as the fundamental elements of the government. The focus is on the party delivering its promises, and because a vacancy in Parliament does not affect a party's mandate to rule, the vacancy need not be filled before the next general election.Lee, "Parliamentary Elections" (27 August 2008), cols. 3395–3399. In 2013, the Court of Appeal held in Vellama d/o Marie Muthu v. Attorney-General (2013) ("Vellama (C.A.)"). The abbreviation d/o means "daughter of". that this was an incorrect interpretation of Article 49(1).Vellama (C.A.), p. 40, para. 92. See the "Court rulings" section below.
By-elections have been held 11 times since the independence of Singapore,. the latest being the 2016 by-election to fill a vacancy arising in Bukit Batok Single Member Constituency.
When a parliamentary vacancy arises The seat of a Member of Parliament ("MP") is vacated in the middle of the term of office if he or she dies, or the MP:Constitution, Art. 46(2).
ceases to be a citizen of Singapore; ceases to be a member of the political party which he or she represented in the election; resigns by writing to the Speaker of Parliament; is absent without the Speaker's permission from parliamentary sittings or sittings of committees of Parliament that the MP is a member of for two consecutive months in which the sittings are held; is disqualified to be an MP according to Article 45 of the Constitution (which includes matters such as being of unsound mind, becoming bankrupt, and being sentenced in Singapore or Malaysia to prison for not less than a year or to a fine of not less than S$2,000); or is expelled from Parliament upon the exercise of its power to do so.
Filling of casual vacancies Elected Members of Parliament In Singapore, elected MPs belong to either a Single Member Constituency ("SMC") or a Group Representation Constituency ("GRC"). SMCs are overseen by a single MP ("PEA"), s. 22(1). and GRCs by a team of between three and six MPs.Constitution, Art. 39A(1)(a); PEA, s. 8A(1)(a). For the purposes of the 2020 general election, there were 93 seats for elected MPs in Parliament organized into 14 SMCs and 17 GRCs.
Single Member Constituencies Article 49(1) of the Constitution states: Whenever the seat of a Member, not being a non-constituency Member, has become vacant for any reason other than a dissolution of Parliament, the vacancy shall be filled by election in the manner provided by or under any law relating to Parliamentary elections for the time being in force.An issue that has arisen is whether this provision gives the Prime Minister discretion to call or not to call for by-elections when parliamentary seats are vacated.
2008 parliamentary debate
Following the sudden death of Dr. Ong Chit Chung, an MP for Jurong GRC, on 14 July 2008,. Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Thio Li-ann moved a motion in Parliament on 27 August in the following terms:Thio, "Parliamentary Elections" (27 August 2008), col. 3328.
Thio expressed concerns that residents in an SMC would be left without representation in Parliament if their MP vacated their seat in Parliament. Although if it was a PAP MP whose seat was vacated another PAP MP in an adjacent ward could take over temporarily, this would not be possible if it was an Opposition ward that lost its MP because of the small number of constituencies held by the Opposition. In her view, "[a]s a matter of basic fairness, the law should not favour one political reality. It should provide for all contingencies, to ensure that voters in a ward do not suffer 'MP-lessness' by being denied parliamentary representation."Thio, "Parliamentary Elections" (27 August 2008), col. 3339.
Thio said since the calling of by-elections should be governed by a rules-based regime, by-elections should be called within a specific time frame. She argued that a clear rule regulating discretion as opposed to giving political leaders absolute discretion in the matter would promote certainty and serve to uphold the rule of law, which helps to ensure a sound economic environment. Absolute discretion might result in arbitrary abuse without oversight.Thio, "Parliamentary Elections" (27 August 2008), cols. 3334–3335.