Country Name:
conventional long form: Republic of Singapore
conventional short form: Singapore
Government Type: parliamentary republic
Capital: Singapore; geographic coordinates: 1 17 N, 103 51 E
Administrative Divisions: none
Independence: 9 August 1965 (from Malaysian Federation)
National Holiday: National Day, 9 August (1965)
Constitution: 3 June 1959; amended 1965 (based on preindependence State of Singapore Constitution)
Legal System: based on English common law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage: 21 years of age; universal and compulsory
Executive Branch:
chief of state: President S R NATHAN (since 1 September 1999)
note: uses S R NATHAN but his full name and the one used in formal
communications is Sellapan RAMANATHAN
head of government: Prime Minister LEE Hsien Loong (since 12 August
2004); Senior Minister GOH Chok Tong (since 12 August 2004); Minister Mentor LEE
Kuan Yew (since 12 August 2004); Deputy Prime Ministers Shunmugam JAYAKUMAR
(since 12 August 2004) and WONG Kan Seng (since 1 September 2005)
cabinet: appointed by president, responsible to parliament
elections: president elected by popular vote for six-year term; appointed
on 17 August 2005 (next election to be held by August 2011); following
legislative elections, leader of majority party or leader of majority coalition
is usually appointed prime minister by president; deputy prime ministers
appointed by president
election results: Sellapan Rama (S R) NATHAN appointed president in
August 2005 after Presidential Elections Committee disqualified three other
would-be candidates; scheduled election not held
Legislative Branch: unicameral Parliament (84 seats; members elected
by popular vote to serve five-year terms); note - in addition, there are up to
nine nominated members; up to three losing opposition candidates who came
closest to winning seats may be appointed as "nonconstituency" members
elections: last held on 6 May 2006 (next to be held in 2011)
election results: percent of vote by party - PAP 66.6%, WP 16.3%, SDA
13%, SDP 4.1%; seats by party - PAP 82, WP 1, SDA 1
Judicial Branch: Supreme Court (chief justice is appointed by the
president with the advice of the prime minister, other judges are appointed by
the president with the advice of the chief justice); Court of Appeals
Political parties and Leaders:
People's Action Party or PAP [LEE Hsien Loong]; Singapore Democratic Alliance or
SDA [CHIAM See Tong]; Singapore Democratic Party or SDP [CHEE Soon Juan];
Workers' Party or WP [Sylvia LIM Swee Lian]
note: SDA includes National Solidarity Party or NSP, Singapore Justice
Party or SJP, Singapore National Malay Organization or PKMS, Singapore People's
Party or SPP
Political Pressure Groups and Leaders: NA
International Organisation Participation: APEC, APT, ARF, AsDB, ASEAN,
BIS, C, CP, EAS, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO,
IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, NAM, OPCW, PCA,
UN, UNCTAD, UPU, WCL, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Flag description: two equal horizontal bands of red (top) and white; near the hoist side of the red band, there is a vertical, white crescent (closed portion is toward the hoist side) partially enclosing five white five-pointed stars arranged in a circle
This information comes from the CIA
World Factbook January 2008.
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