The country of 5.5 million people has no natural resources and has relied on open immigration policies to provide cheap labour to support its global fame as a financial services hub and electronics manufacturer.
Lee has had to balance public demands to reduce immigration into the cramped city-state. Tighter immigration policies have been partly blamed for the drop in growth forecasts.
Andrew Wood, the Singapore-based head of Asia country risk analysis at BMI Research, said he expected “the PAP to achieve approximately the same share of the popular vote that it garnered in 2011, or around 60%”.
The PAP has been “very transparent about the fact that a slowdown in immigration inflows would blunt economic growth, and this is exactly what has transpired”, he said. In Wood’s view, the party has struck a good balance between answering the public calls to reduce the inflow while maintaining a healthy economy.
“However, conversing with many people on the ground, it is clear that not everyone is satisfied with the pace of the immigration cutbacks, and many will still prefer to pressure the PAP to tighten its immigration policies even further,” Woods said.
Another major issue, perhaps an indication of Singapore success, is a spate of public transport disruptions. Local research firm Blackbox found that overall satisfaction with the government declined 4% between April and July after train delays and shutdowns.
Although both Lees have been criticised for hampering political opposition and independent media, Blackbox found that satisfaction for government accountability stood at 89%, with civil rights and free speech also high at 79%, suggesting these issues will not be top of the electorate’s agenda.
Still, social inequality is cited as a major issue for the 2015 polls and this is where the main opposition, the Workers’ party, will want to grab seats – its candidates wear blue shirts to symbolise the party’s connection to blue-collar workers.
The group’s leader, Low Thia Khiang, claims voters back the opposition to create an alternative to the PAP and has likened the ruling party to a sinking ship. “I’m afraid the cruise ship is over capacity limit. It used to be a luxury cruise ship. The designer claimed that it’s not sinkable,” he told reporters this month. “The name is Titanic.”
But with only a handful of seats currently filled in parliament, the opposition’s driving public strategy – despite its leader’s vocal attacks – seems not to be an attempt to secure executive office but that Singapore needs a stronger opposing voice.
Leon Perera, a Workers’ party parliamentary candidate, told supporters at the weekend that the PAP expected the “blind faith” of voters. He said the Workers’ party’s vision was to lobby for a “strong responsible opposition”.
“This shows the danger of relying on one crushingly dominant party to steer this country,” he said. “There is another model, my friends. There is another way. Balance instead of dominance.”