Singapore to hold general election on 3 May

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - SINGAPORE — Singapore will head to the polls on 3 May, in what will be the first electoral test for its new prime minister Lawrence Wong.

The election campaign, which lasts just nine days, is expected to be dominated by the rising cost of living, housing needs, jobs, and a growing demand for healthcare amid an ageing population.

Voters are widely expected to return the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) to power. The PAP has won every election since Singapore was granted self rule by the British in 1959.

The country's last election in 2020 saw the opposition Workers' Party secure 10 seats — the biggest victory for the opposition since Singapore gained independence in 1965.

This time, 97 seats are up for grabs.

Though the PAP won 83 out of 93 seats in 2020, it will no doubt be looking for a stronger win this year — the last election result was widely seen as a setback for the party.

According to a Reuters report citing data from pollster YouGov, 44% of 1,845 Singaporeans surveyed in March have decided who to vote for. Of that number, 63% say they would choose the ruling party and 15% would back the leading opposition Workers' Party.

The election is also being seen as the first real test of Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who took office last year — replacing the city state's long-serving premier Lee Hsien Loong, who served as leader for 20 years.

Presenting his first budget as the country's leader in February, Wong unveiled a series of tax rebates, handouts and sector-specific measures to cushion against cost-of-living pressures — in what some analysts call a "feel good" budget aimed at sweetening the ground before the election.

Since becoming an independent nation in 1965, Singapore has only had four prime ministers — all from the ruling People's Action Party (PAP).

The first was Lee's father, Lee Kuan Yew, who is widely considered as the founder of modern Singapore and led the country for 25 years.

Singapore's political landscape has been dominated by the PAP, though the party was rocked by a series of scandals in 2020 — including a senior minister's arrest in a corruption probe as well as the resignation of two lawmakers over an extramarital affair.

Voting is compulsory for Singapore's 2.75 million eligible citizens.

Singapore mirrors the UK's first-past-the-post voting system, but there are key differences that make it harder for opposition parties.

MPs contest for constituencies that vary in size and the larger ones are not represented by an individual MP, but by a team of up to five MPs — called Group Representative Constituencies (GRCs).

The system was introduced in 1988 as a way to include more representation from Singapore's minority groups in the predominantly Chinese city — so parties could "risk" running one or two minority candidates.

But until several years ago, opposition parties have not had the resources to recruit enough skilled and experienced people to genuinely contest these larger constituencies.

Candidates must also deposit S$13,500 ($9,700: £7,700) to contest and need to win more than one-eighth of total votes to get it back.

The electoral divisions of constituencies are also often changed to reflect population growth — opposition parties say this is not done transparently and amounts to gerrymandering, something the government has always denied. — BBC