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| Friday, April 28, 2006 |
| Singapore opposition denies ruling party walkover election win |
AsiaOne
By GILLIAN WONG
Associated Press Writer
SINGAPORE (AP) -- Singapore's opposition parties on Thursday denied the ruling party a walkover victory in the May 6 elections by contesting more than half the seats in Parliament for the first time in nearly two decades.
The People's Action Party will be fighting an election to form the next government, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on state television Thursday, the day candidate nominations were submitted.
"The opposition is contesting 47 seats, and we don't have a majority," Lee said.
In the past three general elections, the small, fragmented opposition gave the PAP a guaranteed majority before even a single vote was cast because they were unable to rustle up enough candidates. The last election in which the opposition contested more than half the seats in Parliament was in 1988.
Only 29 seats were contested in the 2001 election, which meant just a third of eligible voters were able to cast their ballots.
On Thursday, the country's main opposition parties - the Singapore Democratic Alliance, the Workers' Party and the Singapore Democratic Party - collectively fielded candidates to run for 47 seats in the 84-member Parliament.
Nominations closed midday Thursday.
"Opposition parties have galvanized this time around to give the incumbent a good fight," said Jeanne Conceicao, a researcher at the Institute of Policy Studies in Singapore. "They want to give Singaporeans a choice and have decided to field as many candidates as they can."
Prime Minister Lee, whose multimember constituency of Ang Mo Kio is being contested by a team from the Workers' Party, said: "We are eager to fight them, we're going to work hard and make sure we win convincingly."
Hundreds of party supporters stood outside nomination centers across the island, waving flags and banners as they cheered.
Even with greater opposition participation in the poll, the PAP - which has ruled Singapore uninterrupted since its separation from Malaysia in 1965 - is likely to win an overwhelming majority.
The PAP has won praise for transforming Singapore from a tiny, resource-scarce territory into an affluent economic hub, and says it delivers on its promises of giving Singapore's 4.2 million citizens financial and social stability.
"This is the system that has delivered for Singapore," Lee said.
Singapore's economy enjoyed relatively strong growth in the past two years, with efforts to diversify the economy away from electronics and manufacturing following a recession in 2001 having some success. The government says the economy will likely grow 4 percent to 6 percent this year, after expanding 6.4 percent in 2005.
The government also recently announced a national budget with handouts to the city-state's citizens worth 2.6 billion Singapore dollars (US$1.59 billion; €1.34 billion).
In a replay of events during previous elections, Lee and his father are suing the SDP for articles in the party's newspaper that they say accuse them of covering up corruption at a local charity.
Critics say the ruling party's use of defamation lawsuits against opposition leaders and influence over the local media make it difficult for opposition parties to present their views to the public. PAP leaders say they welcome debate and file lawsuits only to protect their reputations.
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