Singapore to hold election on May 3 in first electoral test for PM Wong

SINGAPORE: SINGAPORE will hold general elections on May 3, authorities in the city-state have said, paving the way for the first electoral test of Prime Minister Lawrence Wong since he entered office last year.

Elections Department Singapore announced the date of the vote on Tuesday, shortly after the prime minister’s office said President Tharman Shanmugaratnam had dissolved parliament on Wong’s advice.

The election comes at a delicate moment for Singapore, whose export-reliant economy is facing headwinds from United States President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Wong, who succeeded Lee Hsien Loong in May, said he called the election to give Singaporeans a chance to choose their next team of leaders at a “critical juncture” for the country.

“We are witnessing profound changes in the world. It is becoming more uncertain, unsettled and even unstable,” Wong said in a post on his Facebook page.

“The global conditions that enabled Singapore’s success over the past decades may no longer hold.”

While a total of 97 seats are up for grabs in the election, Wong’s People’s Action Party (PAP) is all but certain to retain power.

The PAP, co-founded by Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew, has governed the city-state without interruption since it achieved self-governance from Britain in 1959.

While the PAP has never received less than 60 percent of the vote, critics have accused the government of suppressing opposition voices through gerrymandering and strict controls on free expression and assembly.

In 2020, the main opposition Workers’ Party secured its best-ever election result, winning 10 of the 93 seats in contention.

Polling has suggested the election could be more competitive than previous votes.

In a survey carried out by YouGov last month, just 44 percent of respondents said they had decided which party to vote for.

Among those who had made up their mind, 63 percent said they would choose the PAP and 15 percent said they preferred the Workers’ Party.