SINGAPORE: There has been much speculation about whether newly minted Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will call for a General Election in the coming months.
However, the deadline for doing so is not until November next year. Nevertheless, talk of it coming soon has spread as on-the-ground efforts have stepped up from the different political parties.
An update from the Elections Department (ELD) on Friday (May 31) has only strengthened the buzz around the next GE, which many consider crucial.
It is a test for PM Wong and the fourth generation of leaders from the governing People’s Action Party. Some analysts have pointed out that the PAP has stepped up efforts in constituencies that may need special attention.
“We are likely to see greater movements from the PAP, especially in those constituencies lacking an anchor minister and in those where newer faces are replacing those not standing for re-election,” Mustafa Izzuddin, a senior international affairs analyst at Solaris Strategies Singapore, is quoted as saying in the South China Morning Post.
Three Group Representation Constituencies, in particular, may need special attention from the governing party.
Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who represented Jurong GRC from 2001 to 2023, stepped down last year to mount a successful presidential bid.
And while Jurong has been a PAP stronghold for years, the other four MPs are not nearly as well known as the President.
West Coast GRC, meanwhile, lost former Transport Minister S Iswaran earlier in the year in Singapore’s most high-profile corruption case. Like President Tharman, he had represented the constituency for over two decades.
Nevertheless, West Coast still has Minister for National Development Desmond Lee among its MPs.
However, the PAP’s win over the Progress Singapore Party in the last GE was a close one, at 51.68 per cent to PSP’s 48.32 per cent, or less than 5,000 votes.
PSP’s near miss at West Coast GRC sent two of its candidates, Ms Hazel Poa and Mr Leong Mun Wai, into Parliament as NCMPs.
And then there’s Marine Parade GRC. Former House Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin, who had represented Kembangan–Chai Chee in Parliament from 2011 to 2023, stepped down last year after an inappropriate relationship was disclosed between him and Tampines MP Cheng Li Hui.
However, the PAP team at Marine Parade still has several high-profile members, including Manpower Minister Tan See Lang, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong, and Seah Kian Peng, who was appointed speaker after Mr Tan resigned.
Assoc Prof Eugene Tan of Singapore Management University also spoke to SCMP, opining that PM Wong should take his time instead of speeding up the GE.
“He needs time to put flesh on his vision of Singapore under his premiership and will seek to use the series of key platforms to articulate his vision, get Singaporeans enthused, even excited,” he said.
He added that a more likely timeline for the election would be after the national Budget is rolled out next year instead of this year. /TISG
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