SINGAPORE-ELECTION/PREVIEW Singapore ruling party for first time faces election fight for every seat

Record ID: 141638

  • Title: SINGAPORE-ELECTION/PREVIEW Singapore ruling party for first time faces election fight for every seat
  • Date: 7th September 2015
  • Summary: SINGAPORE (SEPTEMBER 3, 2015) (REUTERS) FOOD COURT AT NEE SOON GROUP REPRESENTATION CONSTITUENCY RULING PEOPLE'S ACTION PARTY (PAP) POSTERS SINGAPORE LAW AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER K. SHANMUGAM ARRIVING WITH PAP MEMBERS SHANMUGAM SHAKING HANDS WITH FOOD STALL OWNER AND POINTING AT POSTER BEARING HIS PHOTO AND READING (English): "I SUPPORT SHANMUGAM" POSTER/STALL OWNERS CHATTING WITH SHANMUGAM SHANMUGAM SHAKING HANDS WITH CUSTOMERS AT FOOD COURT SHANMUGAM CHATTING WITH PEOPLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) SINGAPORE LAW AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER, K. SHANMUGAM SAYING: "PAP may look dominant, but you know, it can easily lose. It can very easily lose. People don't realise, outside observers, it takes only about 10,000 votes to swing, and you lose in a constituency. I am not talking about a small constituency, I am talking about a GRC (Group Representation Constituency). You can swing and lose a GRC of five seats on something like 6,000 votes." SHANMUGAM SHAKING HANDS WITH MEN AT FOOD COURT (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) LOCAL RESIDENT, MR. HONG SAYING: "They do things for us, the people. They built public housing and transport system for us." SINGAPORE (RECENT - SEPTEMBER 2, 2015) (REUTERS) PEOPLE CHEERING AT WORKERS' PARTY RALLY SUPPORTERS CHEERING AND WAVING FLAGS HAND WAVING WORKERS' PARTY FLAG WORKERS' PARTY CANDIDATE DANIEL GOH SPEAKING ON PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (English/Mandarin) WORKERS' PARTY CANDIDATE, DANIEL GOH SAYING: "They say the rising tide lifts all boats, but this is more like flash flooding of the labour force, depressing wage growth and pushing up cost of living. Many Singaporeans have been thrown overboard by the flood and are treading water just to keep alive, afraid to die, (but) what can we do?" ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF LAW AT THE SINGAPORE MANAGEMENT UNIVERSITY EUGENE TAN SITTING AND TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF LAW AT THE SINGAPORE MANAGEMENT UNIVERSITY, EUGENE TAN, SAYING: "I think for the PAP, they are very conscious that they need to stop this decline in electoral support, for the opposition parties, I think there is a sense that this is as good a time to make further inroads to move Singapore towards whether it is a two-party or multiple-party system, but certainly the idea that there is now greater political pluralism." TAN TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF LAW AT THE SINGAPORE MANAGEMENT UNIVERSITY, EUGENE TAN, SAYING: "Voters are given the very demanding task, because on the ballot sheet, you know, because this is a straight first past the post system, you only cast your ballot for one team, for one candidate, you don't have a choice of trying to say about I want to cast some votes for a strong party, and some votes for there to be more checks and balances. So, it is something which voters will have to determine how to manage these competing interests." HIGH RISES IN THE CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT PEOPLE WALKING ON STREET HIGH RISE BUILDINGS/SKY (SOUNDBITE) (English) FINANCE INDUSTRY EMPLOYEE, MS. TEO SAYING: "I think they (the ruling party) have done a good job, in fact I would say they have done a good job for so many years, you can see the progress of Singapore. Maybe, maybe they just don't want them to be complacent, and they shouldn't be thinking that they are the best in the world and probably sometimes they need to take a step back and really look at things from a different perspective." MARINA BAY SANDS TOURISTS AT MERLION STATUE BUILDINGS/BRIDGE AT MARINA BAY MAN WALKING ALONG RIVER BANK/PIGEONS
  • Embargoed: 22nd September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Singapore
  • Country: Singapore
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5NVXSNJ94MKP19QO1Z35MLDRU
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: At breakfast time one day last week, Singapore government minister K. Shanmugam dropped in to a bustling food court to greet voters, listen to their grumbles and urge them to back the People's Action Party (PAP) in this Friday's (September 11) general election.
    A bedrock of support from communities like this guarantees that the PAP, which has ruled the city state since it won independence 50 years ago, will be returned to power this week.
    However, Shanmugam, who is law and foreign minister, says the PAP can no longer take popular loyalty for granted. The party's share of the vote dropped to 60.1 percent in the last election in 2011, its lowest ever, even though it won 81 of the 87 parliamentary seats.
    A swing of just a few thousand votes in some electoral districts this time could erode its overwhelming majority in the 89-seat parliament.
    Since then the government has introduced curbs on foreign workers, measures to cool a red-hot property market, and subsidised health-care cover for the elderly.
    "PAP may look dominant, but you know, it can easily lose. It can very easily lose. People don't realise, outside observers, it takes only about 10,000 votes to swing, and you lose in a constituency. I am not talking about a small constituency, I am talking about a GRC. You can swing and lose a GRC of five seats on something like 6,000 votes," Shanmugam said.
    One resident, Mr. Hong, who is in his 50s, has been a PAP supporter his whole life.
    "They do things for us, the people. They built public housing and transport system for us," he said.
    People like Hong, who have witnessed the country's founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and his PAP leading the city state's rapid rise from a British colonial backwater to a global trade and financial centre and who have a strong sense of gratitude to the government, are the voters the PAP are counting on.
    However, the legacy of the senior Lee, who died on March 23, may not necessarily convince everyone that his PAP is still best placed to ensure Singapore's success over the next 50 years.
    For the first time, citizens born after the country's independence in 1965 will likely account for the majority of voters. As of 2014, almost 54 percent of citizens above the age of 20 were born in 1965 and later. Singapore's voting age is 21.
    Young Singaporeans are generally happy with the PAP-led government, but are less satisfied than older Singaporeans with public transport, population management and civil liberties, according to a survey in June by Singapore-based Blackbox Research.
    When thousands turned up at a rally of the main opposition Workers' Party (WP) last week, the candidates focused their campaign on the ills brought by Singapore's growth: yawning wealth gaps, resentment over an influx of foreign workers and an increase in the cost of living.
    "They say the rising tide lifts all boats, but this is more like flash flooding of the labour force, depressing wage growth and pushing up cost of living. Many Singaporeans have been thrown overboard by the flood and are treading water just to keep alive, afraid to die, (but) what can we do?" said one of the WP candidates, Daniel Goh, during his address the crowd.
    Nominations showed that the PAP will face a fight from opposition candidates in all 89 parliamentary seats for the first time since independence 50 years ago.
    Eugene Tan, Associate Professor of Law at the Singapore Management University, says Singapore will see the most keenly-contested election in its history.
    Apart from people's usual resentment over an open door for foreign workers, overcrowded trains and expensive housing, the PAP is also faced with a growing public desire for an increase in opposition party members to keep government policies in check, he said.
    "I think for the PAP, they are very conscious that they need to stop this decline in electoral support, for the opposition parties, I think there is a sense that this is as good a time to make further inroads to move Singapore towards whether it is a two-party or multiple-party system, but certainly the idea that there is now greater political pluralism," said Tan.
    "Voters are given the very demanding task, because on the ballot sheet, you know, because this is a straight first past the post system, you only cast your ballot for one team, for one candidate, you don't have a choice of trying to say about I want to cast some votes for a strong party, and some votes for there to be more checks and balances. So, it is something which voters will have to determine how to manage these competing interests," Tan added.
    Ms. Teo, who did not want to give her full name and age but said she is in her early 40s and in the finance industry, said she would vote for the opposition to keep the government's power in check.
    "I think they (the ruling party) have done a good job, in fact I would say they have done a good job for so many years, you can see the progress of Singapore. Maybe, maybe they just don't want them to be complacent, and they shouldn't be thinking that they are the best in the world and probably sometimes they need to take a step back and really look at things from a different perspective," she said.
    The election also comes at a time when Singapore is experiencing slowing growth. The government last month revised its official gross domestic product growth forecast for 2015 to 2.0-2.5 percent from 2-4 percent previously.
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