On Sept. 4, the Elections Department Singapore announced that the committee looking at the drawing of boundaries for electoral constituencies has already been formed, and is in the process of its deliberations.

The formation of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC) led to palpable excitement in the air as it signalled election season is just around the corner.

Members of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee

The five people on the EBRC have been revealed.

They are:

1. Secretary to Prime Minister: Tan Kee Yong (Chairman)
2. CEO, Housing & Development Board: Dr Cheong Koon Hean
3. CE, Singapore Land Authority: Tan Boon Khai
4. Chief Statistician, Department of Statistics: Wong Wee Kim
5. Head, Elections Department: Koh Siong Ling (Secretary)

All members, save for the secretary, were in the 2011 and 2015 EBRC.

In a statement, the ELD said that the committee has been tasked with recommending the number of electoral divisions based on changes in the number of electors.

They were also directed to reduce the average size of the Group Representation Constituencies (GRC) and have more than the current 13 Single Member Constituencies (SMC).

Constituencies carved out in past elections

In the past, the EBRC typically worked out the number of constituencies using the ratio of 20,000 to 37,000 electors per Member of Parliament, with a ± 30 percent variation.

In January 2011, the estimated number of electors was 2,349,091.

With 84 elected MPs then, this worked out to a ratio of 28,000 electors to one MP.

In August 2015, there were an estimated 2,460,977 electors.

With 87 elected MPs, the ratio of electors to MPs was 28,300 to one.

Here are the constituencies that were drawn up in the 2011 and 2015 elections.

With the new terms of reference for the upcoming elections, Singaporeans can expect to see at least one more SMC and perhaps multiple smaller GRCs.

You can check out the detailed EBRC reports for past elections here.

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Top image via Singapore Parliament