Non-constituency Member of Parliament


A Non-constituency Member of Parliament is a member of an opposition political party in Singapore who, as stipulated in Article 39 of the Constitution and the Parliamentary Elections Act, is declared to have been elected a Member of Parliament without constituency representation, despite having lost in a general election. To receive the status, they need to have obtained one of the highest vote shares among defeated opposition candidates.
NCMPs enjoy all of the privileges of ordinary members of Parliament, apart from the salary, which is substantially lower. The NCMP scheme is a unique feature not seen in traditional Westminster system styles of government. The number of NCMPs seats in Singapore has been progressively raised since the scheme's introduction in 1984, starting with a cap of three, increased to six in 1997, nine in 2010 and finally twelve in 2016.
On 19 May 2025, the Elections Department announced the appointment of Andre Low and Eileen Chong as NCMPs. Both stood as candidates for the Workers' Party in the 2025 general election, Low in Jalan Kayu Single Member Constituency and Chong as part of the WP team for Tampines Group Representation Constituency. As the highest-scoring opposition candidates who were not elected, their appointments filled the final two slots of the twelve available under the NCMP scheme, as their party won ten elected seats during the election.

Overview

Rationale

The Non-constituency Member of Parliament scheme was introduced to the Singapore Parliament on 30 June 1984. The scheme was first proposed by first organising People's Action Party secretary Goh Chok Tong a month prior, as part of plans to ensure opposition voices in parliament.
During the Second Reading of the NCMP bill in July 1984, prime minister Lee Kuan Yew formally presented to Parliament three main justifications for the NCMP scheme. First, he said that having a minimum number of opposition members in Parliament through the NCMP scheme would provide younger PAP MPs with sparring partners to "sharpen their debating skills". Secondly, the presence of opposition members in Parliament would educate the younger generation of voters about the role of a constitutional opposition and the limits of what it can do. He said this was especially important because the younger generation who had not lived and witnessed the conflicts within Parliament in the 1950s and 1960s "harbour myths about the role of an Opposition" and "had no idea how destructive an Opposition could be". Thirdly, the presence of non-PAP MPs in Parliament would act as a check and balance against any governmental impropriety. According to Lee, "some non-PAP MPs will ensure that every suspicion, every rumour of misconduct, will be reported to the non-PAP MPs". The readiness of non-PAP members to bring forth any allegation of misfeasance, or corruption, or nepotism would "dispel suspicions of cover-ups of alleged wrongdoings".
More importantly, the NCMP scheme was introduced to "ensure the representation in Parliament of a minimum number of Members from a political party or parties not forming the Government". The PAP possessed "unbroken hegemony" in Parliament from 1968 until 1981 when J. B. Jeyaretnam won a seat in the Anson by-election. As a result of his sole opposition presence in the Parliament, he could not initiate a meaningful debate in Parliament, being unable to find another MP to second his motions. The fact that there was absolutely no opposition representation in Parliament in the four general elections before 1984 added to the impetus for the inception of the scheme.
Year of
general election		Percentage of votes
won by the PAP		Percentage of votes
won by the opposition		Number of seats won
by the PAP		Number of seats won
by the opposition
196886.7%13.3%580
197270.4%29.6%650
197674.1%25.9%690
198077.7%22.3%750

Responses

Since its introduction, the NCMP scheme received mixed responses. Supporters viewed it as a pragmatic step toward greater political openness, allowing alternative voices in Parliament without disrupting the stability provided by the PAP's dominance. Critics, however, argued that it was a token gesture that undermined genuine electoral competition and discouraged voters from electing opposition candidates, since opposition figures could still enter Parliament without winning at the polls. Some opposition parties, such as the Workers' Party and Singapore Democratic Party, also viewed the scheme with suspicion, seeing it as a way for the ruling party to control the pace of political liberalisation while maintaining its grip on power.
When the NCMP scheme was first offered after the 1984 general election, the best-performing losing opposition candidates – M.P.D. Nair of the WP and Tan Chee Kien of the Singapore United Front – declined the position. Both their parties had viewed the scheme with suspicion and argued that it served to entrench the PAP's dominance while offering only symbolic representation, since NCMPs were not able to represent residents' views and vote on several matters. Nevertheless, in the subsequent election held in 1988, Francis Seow and Lee Siew Choh of WP became the first candidates to accept the NCMP seats when they contested as part of the WP team in the Eunos Group Representation Constituency.
Nevertheless, the NCMP scheme continued to be a subject of criticism, both within the PAP and among opposition MPs and Nominated Members of Parliament. During parliamentary debates in April 2010 on increasing the number of NCMPs from six to nine, several MPs expressed dissatisfaction with what they called the lack of legitimacy and anti-democratic nature of the NCMP concept. For instance, PAP MP Alvin Yeo expressed doubts as to whether the NCMP scheme had served to raise the level of debate in Parliament, while NMP Calvin Cheng said:
The opposition has, from the introduction of the NCMP scheme, decried it as a "sham" and a "toothless" office. Opposition member J. B. Jeyaratnam questioned whether it was "a trick or a ploy" by the ruling party to maintain its dominance in Parliament. It has been argued that the system has placed the opposition at a disadvantage at general elections for a number of reasons. For one, there are restrictions on NCMPs as to what they can or cannot vote on in Parliament. Thus, it has been suggested that the presence of NCMPs in Parliament "does not seem to extend beyond the decorative and the provision of debating foils for the younger PAP generation unexposed to the gladiatorial quality of parliamentary debate". Moreover, the effectiveness of the NCMP scheme is limited by the perception that the NCMP is obliged to be adversarial by virtue of being party to the opposition. This is so even if privately the Member can apprehend the benefits of a Government proposal. Finally, the NCMP scheme has been criticised as a ploy to discourage voters from voting in opposition MPs because of the guarantee of at least a number of NCMP seats. This inhibits the natural growth of an elected opposition voice in Parliament as the electorate's motivation to vote in an opposition Member into Parliament is conceivably diluted by the assurance that a default mechanism exists for the "best losers".
During the 2010 debates, Sylvia Lim, then the sole NCMP in Parliament, commented that having NCMPs "make a bad situation better, but increasing NCMPs is not the solution towards a more robust political system". She identified an NCMP's lack of any official capacity to represent the people or write letters on their behalf as a drawback of the scheme. Moreover, an NCMP has no physical base to organize activities or dialogues with the people. In her view, it would be better for politics in Singapore if the NCMP scheme was regarded merely as a "stop-gap measure" to deal with the lack of alternative voices in Parliament as a result of the ruling party's alleged abuse of the GRC system and gerrymandering. In 2011, WP's Low Thia Khiang had cited an NCMP's lack of "muscle and real grassroot grounding" as a reason for his refusal to take up an NCMP seat if offered. NCMPs do not represent any constituency and are thus denied of opportunities to expand their influence.
In 2011, during a live television forum, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong refuted claims that NCMPs were not a "real opposition" by stating that the PAP had introduced and expanded the scheme "because it acknowledged both the desire among Singaporeans for alternative voices and the need for an opposition to represent the diverse views in society". He noted that NCMPs were free to debate issues in Parliament, and that the scheme provided opposition politicians with an opportunity to "establish themselves and strengthen their positions in subsequent general elections".

Position of NCMP

A Non-constituency Member of Parliament is a candidate of an opposition political party who, despite having lost in a general election, is declared elected as a Member of the Parliament of Singapore by virtue of provisions in the Constitution and the Parliamentary Elections Act enabling the unsuccessful candidates who have performed the best to be accorded the status. The NCMP does not represent any constituency in Parliament.
The NCMP scheme was introduced on 22 August 1984 by the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore Act 1984 and the Parliamentary Elections Act 1984. Under Article 39 of the Constitution which was introduced by the constitutional amendment Act, the maximum number of NCMPs was set at six. However, the actual number that could be declared elected at any general election was fixed at three, less the total number of Opposition MPs elected to Parliament. The President, acting on the advice of the Cabinet, could order that between four and six NCMPs be declared elected for the purpose of a particular general election. Such an order ceased to have effect at the next dissolution of Parliament. On 1 July 2010, the need for a presidential order to increase the number of NCMPs was removed. Instead, the maximum number of NCMPs in Parliament was increased from six to nine, and the actual number that would be declared elected following a general election would be nine sans the number of opposition MPs elected to Parliament.
On 9 November 2016, a bill to amend the Constitution was passed to increase the maximum number of NCMPs from nine to 12, and to confer upon NCMPs the same voting powers as elected MPs. NCMPs could exercise their enhanced voting powers with effect from 1 April 2017, while the procedure for electing up to 12 NCMPs after a general election was brought into effect on 2 January 2019.