Nobody is betting that Singapore’s powerful ruling party will lose Friday’s election. Yet a weakening economy and the fact that, for the first time, all the city-state’s voters will be given a choice of who they want in power provides the greatest electoral test yet for the prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong.
On Friday all of the 2.5 million registered voters in the south-east Asian country will be able to decide if they still support Lee’s People’s Action party (PAP), as opposition groups will contest all 89 seats. In 2006, only residents in 47 of 84 seats had a choice.
Later, in the 2011 polls, resentment over housing prices, the cost of living and high immigration left the PAP – in power since independence 50 years ago – with a drop in votes. It still won 81 of 87 seats but secured only 60.1% of the overall vote, the lowest percentage in its history.
With that in mind, Lee called a snap election last month, more than a year before the deadline for the next polls. Observers say he hoped to ride the ruling party’s popularity boost after the country’s birthday celebrations on 9 August.
“I called this general election to seek your mandate to take Singapore beyond SG50, into its next half-century,” Lee, who has been premier since 2004, posted on Facebook. “More than that, you will be choosing the team to work with you for the next 15-20 years, and setting the direction for Singapore for the next 50 years.”
The election department allowed only nine days of campaigning, the shortest legally allowed period. But the feelgood, national pride factor may be overshadowed by sagging economic growth. The government revised August GDP forecasts from 2-4% to 2-2.5%.