Singapore's ruling party gears up for election campaign

By Kai Portmann Mar 7, 2011, 3:17 GMT

Singapore - Singapore's ruling party is pulling out the stops ahead of general elections expected before June amid criticism from the opposition of tactical manoeuvring for votes.

Observers and opponents pointed to the opportune timing of the ballot, a recent generous budget and a redrawing of the electoral map as part of the government's efforts to win over the electorate.

By law, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, whose People's Action Party (PAP) has governed the city-state since 1959, did not have to call an election before February next year.

But speculation became rife in recent weeks that Lee would announce a ballot earlier to take full advantage of Singapore's strong economy, which grew 14.5 per cent last year.

Then, on February 18, the government unveiled a budget that included multibillion-dollar benefits to help its citizens cope with rising inflation. A big part of the goodies are to be given out in May.

'The general election is imminent. May is likely although a late April date is a possibility,' said Singapore Management University's assistant professor of law Eugene Tan.

'An April date may help defuse some of the criticism that the PAP government is seeking to leverage on the May payment of the budget goodies,' he said.

The budget has come under fire from opposition parties, which hold two of the current 84 elected seats in parliament. The Singapore Democratic Party said it was 'basically a budget full of pork designed to buy votes.'

A week after the budget was out, the government-chosen Electoral Boundaries Review Committee, without elaborating on its decisions, released the map for the expected ballot, prompting the opposition to cry foul again.

'It is obviously an exercise done to minimize risk for the ruling party PAP of losing seats,' the National Solidarity Party's secretary general Goh Meng Seng told the sociopolitical blog The Online Citizen.

Workers' Party chairman and appointed legislator Sylvia Lim claimed that 'indications of gerrymandering are apparent.'

Most controversially, the changes use regulations designed to ensure minority representation to increase the number of small constituencies, represented by one to six legislators. These changes effectively spread the resources of the opposition too thin, forcing it to leave some constituencies uncontested, critics said.

'The boundaries committee does adjust the electoral rules enough to ensure that opposition parties have no chance of mounting a significant challenge to the PAP,' said Joel Fetzer, professor of political science at California's Pepperdine University.

Allegations of foul play came as no surprise for Tan. 'Issues of fair play and transparency are increasingly important to the average Singaporean voter,' he said.

'Without any elaboration on why and how the committee did what it did, it is to be expected that critics and opposition parties say that gerrymandering was at work,' he said.

The government dismissed the accusations.

Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said the boundary changes would even disadvantage the PAP because opposition candidates 'have no roots, they can go anywhere.'

A good candidate is like a good chilli crab stand, he said. 'No matter where the chilli crab stall is located, people will flock to eat there,' said Goh, drawing an analogy with sellers of Singapore's iconic dish.

The opposition does not share Goh's view of an even contest but said it is not disheartened and plans to field candidates in at least 77 of the 87 races, the Straits Times newspaper said.

The number is unusually high for Singapore, where candidates eligibility is more tightly controlled than many parliamentary democracies. The highest recent number of contested constituencies was in 1988 when opposition candidates ran for 70 of the 81 available seats.

Now the electoral map is out, the next step toward a ballot is the dissolution of parliament, a move expected soon.

Singapore's legislators, however, will be kept busy at least until Thursday with debating the government's budget.

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