Constitution of the Republic of Singapore - Singapore Statutes Online

Qualifications for membership of Parliament

44.—(1) Members of Parliament shall be persons qualified for election or for appointment in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution and elected in the manner provided by or under any law for the time being in force in Singapore or appointed in accordance with the provisions of the Fourth Schedule.

(2) A person shall be qualified to be elected or appointed as a Member of Parliament if —

(a)	he is a citizen of Singapore;
(b)	he is of the age of 21 years or above on the day of nomination;
(c)	his name appears in a current register of electors;
(d)	he is resident in Singapore at the date of his nomination for election and has been so resident for periods amounting in the aggregate to not less than 10 years prior to that date;
(e)	he is able, with a degree of proficiency sufficient to enable him to take an active part in the proceedings of Parliament, to speak and, unless incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause, to read and write at least one of the following languages, that is to say, English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil; and
(f)	he is not disqualified from being a Member of Parliament under Article 45.

(3) Any question whether any person possesses the qualifications mentioned in clause (2)(e) shall be determined in such manner as may be prescribed by or under any law for the time being in force in Singapore or, in so far as not so prescribed, as may be provided by order made by the President and published in the Gazette.

Disqualifications for membership of Parliament

45.—(1) Subject to this Article, a person shall not be qualified to be a Member of Parliament who —

(a)

is and has been found or declared to be of unsound mind;

(b)

is an undischarged bankrupt;

(c)

holds an office of profit;

(d)

having been nominated for election to Parliament or the office of President or having acted as election agent to a person so nominated, has failed to lodge any return of election expenses required by law within the time and in the manner so required;

(e)

has —

(i)	been convicted of an offence by a court in Singapore or elsewhere and sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than one year or to a fine of not less than $10,000 (or its equivalent in a foreign currency when sentenced); and
(ii)	not received a free pardon,

except that where the conviction is by a foreign court, the offence must also be one which, had it been committed in Singapore, would have been punishable by a court in Singapore;

[Act 19 of 2022 wef 27/05/2022]

(f)

has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of, or exercised rights of citizenship in, a foreign country or has made a declaration of allegiance to a foreign country; or

(g)

is disqualified under any law relating to offences in connection with elections to Parliament or the office of President by reason of having been convicted of such an offence or having in proceedings relating to such an election been proved guilty of an act constituting such an offence.

(2) The disqualification of a person under clause (1)(d) or (e) may be removed by the President and shall, if not so removed, cease at the end of 5 years beginning from the date on which the return mentioned in clause (1)(d) was required to be lodged or, as the case may be, the date on which the person convicted as mentioned in clause (1)(e) was released from custody or the date on which the fine mentioned in clause (1)(e) was imposed on such person; and a person shall not be disqualified under clause (1)(f) by reason only of anything done by him before he became a citizen of Singapore.

(3) [Deleted by Act 19 of 2022 wef 27/05/2022]

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