Singaporeans to vote in general election on September 11

Singapore will hold a general election on September 11, more than a year before a deadline for the next polls, the government said on Tuesday, seen riding the feel-good factor of the city-state’s 50th birthday amid slowing economic growth.

Lee’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) – founded by his father and former prime minister, the late Lee Kuan Yew – is managing issues from rising costs to increasing frustration among citizens against an influx of foreign workers.

Singapore celebrated half a century as a republic on August 9 with a massive parade which highlighted its rapid economic development and stability under PAP rule.

“You will be deciding who’s governing Singapore for the next five years; but much more than that, you will be choosing the team who will be working with you for the next 15-20 years”.

“This election will be critical”.

Revisions to electoral boundaries earlier this year mean that the next parliament will gain two more members taking the total number of seats to 89.

An estimated 2.46 million eligible voters will vote on September 11, up from 2.35 million in 2011.

In the 2011 election, the PAP won 60 percent of the vote, down from 67 percent in 2006, even though it won 81 of the 87 parliamentary seats.

The opposition Workers’ Party now holds the other seven seats.

Lee said during the National Day Rally that he will be seeking the mandate from Singaporeans to take the Republic into the next phase.

This was classic Mr Lee – ever-believing in Singapore, yet ever-cognisant that there was always work to be done, that we should never take things for granted.

Lee announced plans to boost grants to make public housing, where more than 80 per cent of Singaporeans live, more affordable.

“If you are proud of what we have achieved together, if you support what we want to do ahead, the future that we are building, then please support me, please support my team”.

Since 2011, the PAP has “worked hard” to address voter concerns, said Gillian Koh, a senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore. Another 50 years. And Singapore has to stay special, because, if we are just a boring little spot on the map, a smudge, we are going to count for nothing.