Parliament of Singapore.

The Parliament of the Republic of Singapore and the President jointly make up the legislature of Singapore. Parliament is unicameral and is made up of Members of Parliament (MPs) who are elected, as well as Non-constituency Members of Parliament (NCMPs) and Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs) who are appointed. Following the 2011 general election, 87 MPs were elected, and one NCMP appointed to the 12th Parliament. Nine NMPs will be appointed during the first session of this Parliament. As the first sitting of the 12th Parliament took place on 10 October 2011, its term will end on 9 October 2016 and the next general election must be held by 8 January 2017, unless Parliament is dissolved earlier.In the last general election in 2011, the incumbent People's Action Party (PAP) won 81 of the 87 seats, but lost Hougang SMC and Aljunied GRC to the Workers' Party of Singapore. This was the first time a GRC had been won by an opposition party. With the Workers' Party ending up with six elected seats in Parliament, this was the best opposition parliamentary result since independence. Out of the current 87 elected MPs, 19 (about 16.5%) are female. This was a slight fall from the figure of about 20% for the 11th Parliament, in which 17 of the 84 elected MPs were women.Parliament regulates and ensure the orderly conduct of its own proceedings and the despatch of business through the Standing Orders of Parliament, which it is entitled to make, amend and revoke. If there is any matter not provided for by the Standing Orders, or any question relating to the interpretation or application of any Standing Order, the Speaker of Parliament decides how it should be dealt with. He may have regard to the practice of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, but is not bound to follow it.