Weeks after the first firm step towards the next General Election (GE) was announced in the form of the convening of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC), People’s Action Party (PAP) parliamentarian Sim Ann was spotted busking at Orchard Road.
Sim Ann, a Senior Minister of State and Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Bukit Timah division of Holland-Bukit Timah Group Representation Constituency (GRC), tried her hand at busking over the weekend as she sought feedback on how the Somerset belt at Orchard Road should be reshaped.
Sharing a video of her singing, she wrote on social media: “What if… the Orchard Road Somerset Belt was filled with more street music? I tried singing on the street for the first time at Somerset Belt prototyping day’s “Busk at Dusk” station.
“Conclusion: for sure we need better singers than me. But the idea is there! Let us know how you think we should reshape the Somerset Belt”
https://www.facebook.com/SimAnn.SG/videos/399189254118631/
On 4 Sept, the Elections Department (ELD) announced that the EBRC was formed sometime last month. The formation of the EBRC precedes the calling of the next election and has been taken to mean that the next GE is imminent.
In the past three General Elections (GEs), the EBRC has taken between two to four months to complete the review. The time between the release of the EBRC’s report and polling day has ranged from as little as 17 days to as long as six months, in Singapore history.
For the next GE, the EBRC has particularly been tasked to reduce the average size of group representation constituencies (GRCs) and increase the number of single-member constituencies (SMCs). This likely means that the electoral map will be altered significantly.
Speculation on the timing of the next GE has become especially fevered since the EBRC was formed, with both netizens and political observers opining that the next GE could be held as soon as November/December 2019 or in the first quarter of 2020, after the next Budget.-/TISG