Parliamentary elections in Singapore must be held within three months after five years have elapsed from the date of the first sitting of a particular
Parliament of
Singapore. However, in most cases Parliament is dissolved and a general election called at the behest of the
Prime Minister before the five-year period elapses. The number of
constituencies or electoral divisions is not permanently fixed by law, but is declared by the Prime Minister prior to each general election pursuant to the , which governs the conduct of elections to Parliament, taking into account recommendations of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee. For the
2015 general election, there were 89 seats in Parliament organised into 13 Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) and 16
Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs). Each SMC returns one
Member of Parliament while each GRC returns between three and six MPs, at least one of whom must be from the
Malay,
Indian or other minority communities. A group of persons wishing to stand for election in a GRC must all be members of the same
political party, or a group of
independent candidates. The
voting age in Singapore is 21 years.