The People's Action Party (PAP), led by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, has been in power since 1965. The Party won 83 of the 89 seats being contested (see note 1). It took 69.9 per cent of the vote, up from 60.1 per cent in 2011. The main opposition, the Workers' Party (WPS), took the remainder of the seats. Since six opposition members were elected in 2015, three non-constituency members were nominated to parliament (see note 2).

The 2015 elections were the first to be held after Mr. Lee Kuan Yew died in March of that year. He was the country's first and long-serving prime minister and the father of the incumbent Prime Minister. The Constitution provides that the elections should by January 2017: they were held shortly after the country's 50th anniversary of independence, on 31 August 2015. During the election campaign, the major parties focused on measures to tackle the rising cost of living and housing problems after an increase in the levels of immigration to the city State. The population has increased from 4.17 million in 2004 to 5.47 million in 2014.

Note 1:
The number of directly elected seats increased from 87 to 89, in accordance with the Report of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee of 21 July 2015. It recommended 13 Single-Member Constituencies (SMCs) and 16 Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) for the 2015 elections, up from the current 12 SMCs and 15 GRCs.

Note 2:
In accordance with Article 52 of the Parliamentary Elections Act, the number of non-constituency members is calculated by subtracting the total number of opposition members elected to Parliament from nine. The election commission initially declared that one woman and two men from the WPS had been elected as non-constituency members. However, Ms Lee Li Lian, an elected MP of the outgoing legislature, declined to take up her seat. She will remain a non-constituency member until the newly elected Parliament, due to be convened in January 2016, declares her seat vacant.