Singaporeans go to poll next month
Print Edition
Singapore will hold a snap general election on September 11, officials said yesterday as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong seeks a new mandate from voters worried over immigration and the high cost of living.
Despite a slowing economy the People’s Action Party (PAP), which has ruled for more than 50 years, is expected to keep its overwhelming majority in parliament against a fragmented opposition.
But the party will be under pressure to improve on its electoral performance in 2011, when it won just 60 percent of votes cast — its lowest-ever share — despite retaining 80 of the 87 seats in a block-voting system.
It will be the first election without the prime minister’s hugely influential father, independence leader Lee Kuan Yew, who died in March.
The election department set the shortest possible campaigning period of nine days after President Tony Tan dissolved parliament at the prime minister’s request.
Lee, 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. All eyes will be on whether the opposition can gain more than the seven seats it currently holds.
A survey by local research firm Blackbox said the government enjoyed a “satisfaction index” of 76.4 percent in July after peaking at 80 percent in April following Lee Kuan Yew’s death, which triggered an outpouring of grief and stirred patriotism. But its satisfaction rating on the cost of living in July 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 as the local birthrate declined has seen the population surge from 4.17 million in 2004 to 5.47 million last year.
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