‘There goes my long weekend,’ S’poreans react to Voting Day on May 3

SINGAPORE: The next step towards the General Election was taken in Singapore on Tuesday afternoon (April 15) with the announcement from the Prime Minister’s Office that Parliament has been dissolved. President Tharman Shanmugaratnam dissolved the legislature on the advice of Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

Singapore will go to the polls on May 3, Voting Day, after the full list of election candidates emerges on April 23, Nomination Day.

Nomination Day is when prospective candidates file their election papers. This will be followed by a nine-day election campaign and then one “cooling-off day” before Singaporeans cast their vote.

The Returning Officer responsible for overseeing elections is Han Kok Juan, director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore. He has had this position since April 1, 2024.

There will be nine nomination centres across the city-state: Bendemeer Primary School for Queenstown, Radin Mas and Tanjong Pagar; Chongfu School for Nee Soon, Sembawang and Sembawang West; Deyi Secondary School for Ang Mo Kio, Jalan Kayu, Kebun Baru and Yio Chu Kang; Jurong Pioneer JC for Bukit Gombak, Chua Chu Kang and Marsiling-Yew Tee; Kong Hwa School for Jalan Besar, Marine Parade-Braddell Heights, Mountbatten and Potong Pasir; Methodist Girls’ School for Bishan-Toa Payoh, Bukit Panjang, Holland-Bukit Timah and Marymount; Nan Hua High School for Jurong Central, Jurong East-Bukit Batok, Pioneer and West Coast-Jurong West; Poi Ching School for Aljunied, Hougang, Tampines and Tampines Changkat; and Yusof Ishak Secondary School for East Coast, Pasir Ris-Changi, Punggol and Sengkang.

Up for grabs are 97 seats across 33 constituencies.

This election will be the first under Prime Minister Wong, who was sworn into office on May 15, 2024. While the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) is expected to win many seats in Parliament, as it has in past elections, just how much of a dent opposition parties will make this year is being closely watched. In 2020, the Workers’ Party (WP), the only opposition party with elected MPs, won an unprecedented 10 seats in Parliament, significantly clinching a second GRC for the first time. In the elections in 2011 and 2015, the WP won only six seats.

WP chief Pritam Singh was officially designated as Leader of the Opposition on July 11, 2020, the day after the polls when the party won two GRCs: Aljunied and Sengkang.

Then Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that he personally gave the WP chief a phone call, adding, “I told Mr Singh that with 10 MPs, I think it is right that he, the Workers’ Party leader, be formally designated as the Leader of the Opposition, and that he will be provided with appropriate staff support and resources to perform his duties.”

Some Singaporeans, reacting to the 2025 poll schedule, noted that the big day falls smack in the middle of a long weekend, as it follows Labour Day, which this year falls on a Thursday. This means the cooling-off day is on a Friday, and the polls will be held on a Saturday.

Labour Day is one of Singapore’s public holidays, held to mark solidarity with workers. The National Trades Union Congress holds a rally on this day, with one of the highlights being a speech held by the Prime Minister or another high government official. Other political parties also traditionally release statements on Labour Day.

“Why must put polling day in the middle of a long weekend?” one wrote, adding, “There goes my holiday.”

“Why weekend sia? Don’t want people to rest liao!” wrote another. /TISG

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