page_title: Group representation constituency
section_title: Requirements of GRCs
hierarchical_section_title: Group representation constituency / Operation / Requirements of GRCs
caption_attribution_description: English: Three members of the Cabinet of Singapore in the 11th Parliament from minority communities in Singapore that were elected in Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs): from left to right, Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs and Member of Parliament (MP) for Jalan Besar GRC; Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Finance and MP for Jurong GRC; and Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports and MP for Holland–Bukit Timah GRC.
context_page_description: A group representation constituency is a type of electoral division or constituency in Singapore in which teams of candidates, instead of individual candidates, compete to be elected into Parliament as the Members of Parliament for the constituency. The Government stated that the GRC scheme was primarily implemented to enshrine minority representation in Parliament: at least one of the MPs in a GRC must be a member of the Malay, Indian or another minority community of Singapore. In addition, it was economical for town councils, which manage public housing estates, to handle larger constituencies.
  The GRC scheme came into effect on 1 June 1988. Prior to that date, all constituencies were Single Member Constituencies. Now, the Parliamentary Elections Act states that there must be at least eight SMCs, and the number of MPs to be returned by all GRCs cannot be less than a quarter of the total number of MPs. Within those parameters the total number of SMCs and GRCs in Singapore and their boundaries are not fixed but are decided by the Cabinet, taking into consideration the recommendations of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee.
context_section_description: All the candidates in a GRC must either be members of the same political party or independent candidates standing as a group, and at least one of the candidates must be a person belonging to the Malay, Indian or some other minority community. A person is regarded as belonging to the Malay community if, regardless of whether or not he or she is of the Malay race, considers himself or herself to be a member of the community and is generally accepted as such by the community. Similarly, a person will belong to the Indian community or some other minority community if he or she considers himself or herself a member and the community accepts him or her as such. The minority status of candidates is determined by two committees appointed by the President, the Malay Community Committee and the Indian and Other Minority Communities Committee. Decisions of these committees are final and conclusive, and may not be appealed against or called into question in any court.
  The President, at the Cabinet's direction, declares the electoral divisions that are to be GRCs; the number of candidates (three to six) to stand for Parliament in each GRC; and whether the minority candidates in each GRC are to be from the Malay, Indian, or other minority communities. The number of GRCs in which at least one MP must be from the Malay community must be three-fifths of the total number of GRCs, and the number of MPs to be returned by all GRCs cannot be less than a quarter of the total number of MPs to be returned at a general election. For the 2011 general election, there were 12 SMCs and 15 GRCs.
  An electoral division which is a GRC returns the number of MPs designated for the constituency by the President to serve in Parliament. A group of individuals standing together in a GRC is voted for as a team, and not as individual candidates. In other words, a successful voter's single vote in an SMC sends to Parliament one MP, and a GRC sends a group of MPs depending on how many have been designated for that GRC. All elected MPs are selected on a simple plurality voting ("first past the post") basis.
  A by-election need not be held to fill a vacancy in any GRC triggered by the death or resignation of an MP, even if there are no other minority candidates in that GRC, or any other reason. A by-election is required only if all the MPs in a GRC vacate their Parliamentary seats. Assuming that such a situation does arise, the Prime Minister would be obliged to call a by-election within a reasonable time, unless he intends to call a general election in the near future.
caption: Yaacob Ibrahim, Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Vivian Balakrishnan, three Cabinet ministers in the 11th Parliament from minority communities who were elected through GRCs
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