Singapore Suggestion - move to a proportional representation system
1.  I do not like the system of electing people into parliament in Singapore. The election system is based on "first past the post (FPTP)". The candidate with the largest number of votes, which may be less than 50% of total votes, wins the election. 

2. Singapore has modified the traditional system of electing one person for a constituency into a modified system of electing 4 to 6 people in a group representative constituency (GRC). This is to ensure that each GRC has a minority candidate. This system is complicated. It still follows the FPTP system.

3. At each general election, the boundaries of the constituency and GRCs are redrawn to reflect changes in the population. Many people suspect that this is an exercise in "gerrymandering" made to favor the ruling party and give it a bigger chance to win the election under the FPTP system. 

4. In spite of these mechanisms, the ruling party may lose some of its experienced leaders as they failed to win the majority in their constituency. This leads to a weaker government, even though the ruling party may be returned to power. 

5. Is there a better system to ensure that capable people are elected into parliament so that they can be drawn to become ministers in the government?

6. I suggest that the constitution of Singapore be changed to adopt a new system of electing people into parliament:

a) The voters cast their votes for the political party and not individual candidates.

b)  Each political party gets the number of seats in parliament in proportion to their share of the total vote. If parliament has 100 seats and party A, B and C gets, 60%, 30% and 10% of the votes, the parties gets 60,30 and 10 seats respectively.

c) Each party files the names of their candidates in the order of priority prior to the general election. The winning candidates are taken from this party list.

d) In drawing the party list, each party can ensure that the minority races are represented fairly. This was a key feature that led to the change in the constitution to form the GRC. 

7.  My suggestion follows, to a large extent, the system that is practiced  in Switzerland and some other countries. It is described as the "proportional representation system". 
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-with-proportional-representation

8. This system has the following advantages:

a) It allows for a better quality of the people elected into parliament, as they are likely to appear at the top of their party list.

b) The political parties do not have to spend a lot of money in the election campaign to promote their individual candidates. 

c) The elected people in parliament will be more representative of the wishes of the voters.

d) When an elected person is not able to continue office, the replacement can be made from the party. This avoids the expense of holding a by-election.

9. This system will have some disadvantages:

a)  It may result with no single party holding a majority of seats in parliament. They have to form a coalition, which may lead to an unstable government.

b) There is no direct link between the voters in each constituency and their elected leader. 

10 The disadvantages can be mitigated as follows:

a) The parties in the coalition government can set their internal rules to handle internal disagreements and avoid a collapse of the government.

b) The voters can establish a link to the political party in their district. All the parties can remain active in the period prior to the next general election.

11. On balance, I prefer the proportional representation system to the current system practised in Singapore.

Tan Kin Lian



 

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