Style The Honourable Inaugural holder Lee Kuan Yew | Residence Sri Temasek Formation 3 June 1959 | |
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Appointer Tony Tan Keng Yam
(as President of Singapore) Term length 5 years or earlier, renewable.
The Parliament of Singapore must be dissolved every 5 years or earlier by the Prime Minister. The leader of the largest party in the parliament will become the Prime Minister. | ||
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore (Malay: Perdana Menteri Republik Singapura; Chinese: 新加坡共和国总理, pinyin: Xīnjiāpō gònghéguó zǒnglǐ; Tamil: சிங்கப்பூர் குடியரசின் பிரதமர், Ciṅkappūr kuṭiyaraciṉ piratamar) is the head of the government of the Republic of Singapore. The President of Singapore appoints as Prime Minister a Member of Parliament (MP) who, in his opinion, is most likely to command the confidence of a majority of MPs.
The office of Prime Minister dates back to 1959 and was appointed at first by the Governor of Singapore then the Yang di-Pertuan Negara (vice-regal head of state), when Singapore achieved self-governance as the State of Singapore within the British Empire. The title of Prime Minister remained unchanged after the merger with the Federation of Malaya, Sarawak and British North Borneo, while Singapore was a state in the Federation of Malaysia from 1963 to 1965, and after independence in 1965.
The late Mr Lee Kuan Yew was the first prime minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990. Lee was succeeded by Goh Chok Tong and was conferred the title of Senior Minister in the Prime Minister's Office. Goh retired on 12 August 2004 and was succeeded by Lee Kuan Yew's son Lee Hsien Loong. Goh was appointed Senior Minister, and the elder Lee Minister Mentor. Lee and Goh resigned in 2011.
List of deputy prime ministers
The role of Deputy Prime Minister is the second highest post and senior Cabinet Minister in Singapore. The holder will sometimes assume the role of Acting Prime Minister when the PM is temporarily absent. Since the mid-1980s, Singapore has usually had two Deputy Prime Ministers at a time. Only Ong Teng Cheong and Tony Tan served under more than one Prime Minister during their time as Deputy Prime Minister. In the cabinet of Goh Chok Tong in the 1990s to 2004, President Tony Tan and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong were the deputy prime ministers too. Currently, the deputy prime ministers in office are Mr Teo Chee Hean and Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam.