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After the end of the second World War in 1945, the Legislative Council of the Straits Settlement, which the British had first established on 1 April 1867 when Singapore, Malacca and Penang became a Crown Colony, was reinstituted as the Legislative Council of Singapore in 1946, as the other two states became part of the Malayan Union. On 18 July 1947, the Legislative Council Election Ordinance was passed to provide for a token number of seats to be filled by election, with colony-appointed officials holding the majority of seats. This opened Singapore to universal suffrage for the first time, although candidacy and voting eligibilities were privy to "British subjects". Candidates who garner less than one-eighth or 12.5% of the valid votes would have their election deposits forfeited. PP emerged as the dominant political party.

The Rendel Constitution was introduced in 1953 to confer self-governance to Singapore. The Legislative Council was replaced by the Legislative Assembly, with more elected seats and reduced colony-appointees. Voting rights were now given to all local citizens. In 1955, LF won the largest number of seats to form a coalition government. With local legislators continuing to push for more autonomy, Singapore was finally granted complete self-government in 1958 with a fully-elected legislature and compulsory voting for all. In 1959, PAP won a landslide victory and came into power. On 16 September 1963, Singapore joined Malaysia along with Sabah and Sarawak, with the blessings of its former British masters. A year later, PAP extended its presence into the Peninsular and sent a token number of candidates to contest the Malaysia General Election 1964. Although PAP was badly routed, the move fuelled friction between the Singapore state's leaders and Malaysia's UMNO-led governing Alliance Party coalition.

Within the two tumultuous years when Singapore was part of Malaysia, differences between the local PAP government and the national Alliance Party government eventually reached an irreconciliable stage. On 9 August 1965, Singapore separated from Malaysia to become an independent Republic and the Legislative Assembly was renamed Parliament. Since then, PAP has been returned to power in every general election with a supermajority. After Barisan boycotted the legislative route in 1966, PAP gained complete dominance with no opposition presence until WP ended the monopoly in 1981 and cumulatively increased its representation to one-tenth of the seats. A Parliament term is five years but a dissolution and fresh election is usually called before it ends.

Established in 1887, the Municipal Commission administered the planning of Singapore's town area and managed essential utilities such as electricity and water, while the countryside came under the Rural Districts Council. Municipal Elections from 1889 to 1911 gave the island its first taste of elections but were abolished in 1913 owing to excessive politicking. They were restored after World War II to broaden political participation at the local level in preparation for Singapore's self-governance.

On 23 September 1951, Singapore was elevated to the status of a British city and the Municipal Commission was renamed the City Council. In 1957, after recommendations and reviews of three committees were passed, the City Council became a fully elected body and the office of Council President was replaced by a Mayor. After taking power in 1959, the PAP government phased out the City Council in order not to let it become a separate centre of power and its functions were integrated into government agencies. In 1986, some of these functions were again transferred to town councils under the jurisdiction of elected Members of Parliament.

To date, there has only been one referendum in Singapore's history, which was to allow citizens to decide the country's status within Malaysia after the merger.

In 1992, the Singapore Constitution was amended to provide for a President elected by the people. The role was expanded include veto powers over detentions made under the Internal Security Act, key government appointments and use of the national reserves. Prior to this, the past four Presidents were elected by the legislature, beginning with Yusof bin Ishak, who was Yang di-Pertuan Negara (Head of State) from 3 December 1959 until his appointment as Singapore's first President upon the country's independence. An elected President's term is six years and candidates have to fulfill stringent conditions in order to be eligible to contest.