President Tharman designates minority candidate requirements for each GRC under Parliamentary Elections Act

On March 27, 2025, ELD released a document showing, among other things, which GRCs have been designated by the President of Singapore, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, as needing to have at least one of the candidates belong to either the Malay community, or Indian and other minority communities.

This is to ensure sufficient minority representation in Parliament under the GRC scheme, as outlined in Article 39 of the Constitution.

Here are the GRCs where at least one of the candidates in each group must belong to the Malay community:

1. Aljunied

2. Bishan-Toa Payoh

3. Chua Chu Kang

4. East Coast

5. Jalan Besar

6. Marine Parade-Braddell Heights

7. Marsiling-Yew Tee

8. Pasir Ris-Changi

9. Sembawang

10. Sengkang

11. Tampines

Here are the GRCs where at least one of the candidates in each group must belong to the Indian or other minority communities:

1. Ang Mo Kio

2. Holland-Bukit Timah

3. Jurong East-Bukit Batok

4. Nee Soon

5. Punggol

6. Tanjong Pagar

7. West Coast-Jurong West

ELD's document also announced a revision to Parliamentary Election Expenses Limit.

At present the limit for election expenses is S$4 per elector on the Register of Electors. To account for inflation, spending limit will be raised to S$5 per elector.

If the candidate is contesting as part of a group of candidates nominated for an election in a GRC, the maximum spending limit is S$5 per elector on the Register for that GRC divided by the number of candidates in the group nominated for that election.

Top photo by Kane Raynard Goh.