57 names proposed for Nominated MP roles

SINGAPORE – A total of 57 proposed names of individuals were submitted for the role of Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP), the second-highest since the scheme was introduced in 1990.

In a statement on Nov 7, the Office of the Clerk of Parliament said that was the number of applicants received by Nov 6 at 4.30pm.

Members of the public could submit names of individuals for the roles from Oct 8 till Nov 6.

ST previously reported that two GE2025

independent candidates

, Mr Darryl Lo and Mr Jeremy Tan, have applied to be NMPs.

Introduced in 1990,

the NMP scheme

aims to ensure a wide representation of views in Parliament, and nominees should have performed distinguished public service, brought honour to Singapore or distinguished themselves in their respective fields.

There can be up to nine NMPs each term, which lasts 2½ years. A person is qualified for appointment as an NMP if he or she is Singaporean, aged 21 or older on the day of nomination, and on the current Registers of Electors. Among other requirements, he or she should also be able to take an active part in Parliament proceedings.

Names of candidates were submitted to an eight-member Special Select Committee chaired by Speaker of the Parliament Seah Kian Peng.

The other members of the committee are Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing; Education Minister Desmond Lee; Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Finance and National Development Indranee Rajah; Senior Minister of State for Defence and Sustainability and the Environment Zaqy Mohamad; Senior Minister of State for Education and Sustainability and the Environment Janil Puthucheary; Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs Sim Ann; and Sengkang GRC MP Louis Chua.

Besides submissions from the public, seven functional groups – business and industry; the labour movement; the professions; social service organisations; the civic and people sector; tertiary education institutions; and media, arts and sports organisations – were also invited to submit names of suitable candidates.

Each has an appointed coordinator to seek the views of its constituent organisations.

After the submission period, the committee will inform elected MPs and seek their views on the individuals proposed, while also considering various criteria, with nominees undergoing interviews.

The committee will then discuss and decide who to nominate before submitting a list of candidates to the President for appointment as NMPs.

In 2023, 

nine NMPs were selected from 30 nominations

, of whom 16 had applied on their own. The remaining 14 were submitted by the seven functional groups. It was the 

lowest number of total nominations 

since the ninth Parliament was dissolved in 2001 and saw 21 submissions.

The previous round of nominations in 2020 saw 61 submissions for the first session of the 14th Parliament, the highest number since the NMP scheme started.