Singapore is a parliamentary republic with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government representing constituencies. The country's constitution establishes a representative democracy as the political system.[29] Freedom House ranks Singapore as "partly free" in its Freedom in the World report,[30] and The Economist ranks Singapore as a "hybrid regime", the third best rank of four, in its "Democracy Index".[31]
Executive power rests with the Cabinet of Singapore, led by the Prime Minister and, to a much lesser extent, the President.[23] The President is elected through a popular vote, and has veto powers over a specific set of executive decisions, such as the use of the national reserves and the appointment of judges, but otherwise occupies a largely ceremonial post.[32]
The Parliament serves as the legislative branch of the government.[23] Members of Parliament (MPs) consist of elected, non-constituency and nominated members. Elected MPs are voted into the Parliament on a "first-past-the-post" (plurality) basis and represent either single-member or group representation constituencies.[33] The People's Action Party has won control of Parliament with large majorities in every election since self-governance was secured in 1959.[30] Although the elections are clean, there is no independent electoral authority and the political process is dominated by the PAP, which has strong influence on the media and the courts hampering opposition campaigning. This has led Freedom House to regard Singapore as not a proper electoral democracy.[34] Despite this, in the most recent Parliamentary elections in 2011, the opposition, led by the Workers' Party, increased its representation to six elected MPs.