Singapore’s parliament was dissolved yesterday, clearing the way for a snap election as Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) seeks a new mandate from voters worried over immigration and the high cost of living in a slowing economy.
The People’s Action Party (PAP), which has ruled Singapore for more than 50 years with a mix of strict political controls and rapid economic progress, is widely expected to keep its overwhelming majority in the 89-seat parliament because of a fragmented opposition.
However, the party will be under pressure to improve on its worst electoral performance in 2011, when it won 60 percent of votes — its lowest-ever share — despite retaining 80 seats in a block-voting system.
It is set to be the first election without the prime minister’s hugely influential father, former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀), who died in March.
The election department set the shortest possible campaigning period of nine days after Singaporean President Tony Tan (陳慶炎) dissolved parliament at the prime minister’s request.
Lee Hsien Loong, who has been in power for 11 years and had until January 2017 to hold an election, sought support in a Facebook post.
“I called this general election to seek your mandate to take Singapore beyond SG50, into its next half century,” he said, referring to the 50th anniversary of independence from Malaysia.
Singapore celebrated 50 years of independence on Aug. 9 with a massive parade which highlighted its rapid economic development and stability under PAP rule.
Lee Hsien Loong had earlier sought support in a televised address on Sunday.
All eyes are set to be on whether the opposition can gain more than the seven seats it now holds.
A survey by local research firm Blackbox said the government enjoyed a “satisfaction index” of 76.4 percent last month after peaking at 80 percent in April following Lee Kuan Yew’s death, which had triggered an outpouring of national grief and patriotism.
However, its satisfaction rating on the cost of living last month stood at just 42 percent, housing affordability at 53 percent, public transport at 57 percent and population management at 61 percent.
An influx of foreign workers and immigrants has seen the population surge from 4.17 million in 2004 to 5.47 million last year.
The influx remains a source of tension, with middle-class Singaporeans complaining that the newcomers are competing with them for jobs and housing and straining public services like mass transport.
“I would say this would be the watershed general election after independence, because we will see whether Singapore moves in a definitive manner towards a two-party-system,” said analyst Eugene Tan (陳慶文), an associate law professor at the Singapore Management University. “The last four years has seen the PAP government pulling out all stops to deal with the hot-button issues that featured in the last election.”
“If despite this massive effort, voters seem to be throwing more support to the opposition, then it could suggest voters, as much as they want a strong government, also appreciate the value of a healthy and credible opposition,” he added.
Popular opposition to high levels of immigration and the rising cost of living was blamed for the PAP’s weakened showing at the last election, when the Workers’ Party won a five-seat constituency.
It later extended its gains with two by-election wins.
The government subsequently invested billions of dollars in building public housing flats and metro lines while curbing the intake of foreign workers and immigrants.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS