Singaporeans Vote in Prime Minister Lee's First Poll
By: Administrative Account | Source: Bloomberg
May 6, 2006 6:24AM EST

May 6 (Bloomberg) -- Singaporeans will vote today in polls that are seen as a key test of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's 21-month-old government, which has vowed to help older workers and low-income earners and provide affordable health care. Lee, the elder son of Lee Kuan Yew, founder of modern Singapore, has been challenged by candidates who have focused on health-care costs and improvements in public housing. The campaign has been overshadowed by a spat between the ruling party and an opposition candidate who wrongly accused the government of losing his election form. The election marks the first time since 1988 that the opposition has mustered enough candidates to prevent the People's Action Party, which has ruled Singapore since independence four decades ago, from automatically regaining power. Lee's party is expected to retain its majority because 37 of the 84 elected parliamentary seats won't be contested, though the winning margin may be smaller than in 2001, when former premier Goh Chok Tong won 75 percent of the vote. Lee ``has to prove to his party he is an election winner, and he does have a tougher job because the election results were so good for the PAP in 2001,'' said Bruce Gale, a Singapore- based independent political consultant who has covered Southeast Asia since 1988. ``His predecessor put on a friendlier face for the PAP.'' Goh took over from the elder Lee in 1990, and promised a kinder and gentler government, allowing foam parties and bar-top dancing in the city-state to loosen its staid image. Goh's government won the past three elections before polling day because the opposition didn't field enough candidates to compete. He's now senior minister, taking an advisory role, and also serves as chairman of the central bank. `No-nonsense' Lee, 54, who Goh in 2003 said has a ``no-nonsense, uncompromising and tough'' public persona, has tried to soften his own image as well. After taking over from Goh in August 2004, he said in his first nationwide address he would drop a restriction requiring permits for holding indoor speeches and allow citizens to speak more freely in public as long as sensitive issues such as race or religion are avoided. He also lifted a ban on casinos last year, paving the way for two gaming resorts in the city-state that may create 35,000 jobs. Lee said late yesterday that the country's economy grew by more than 10 percent in the first quarter, better than the 9.1 percent estimated by Singapore's Trade Ministry in a preliminary report released on April 10, the Straits Times reported today. Stronger growth in the three months ended March 31 means that the official growth forecast for the year, of 4 percent to 6 percent, is likely to be raised by the Trade and Industry Ministry, the newspaper reported. Landslide Victory? Tony Tan, who retired as deputy prime minister in September, said he expects the ruling party to get between 60 percent and 65 percent of the votes, the Straits Times reported on April 22. The PAP's benchmark for the smallest percentage of votes was set in 1991 with 61 percent, when it also lost the most seats to the opposition -- four of 81 available that year. Local news coverage of the election was dominated initially by a libel suit that Lee and his father filed last week against opposition leader Chee Soon Juan and his party because of an article in the organization's newspaper on a charity scandal. Distraction This week, Lee and his party also challenged the integrity of opposition candidate James Gomez, who told election officials they had misplaced the paperwork he had submitted, although the department's security cameras showed that he put the form in his bag, the Straits Times reported. Gomez apologized, according to his Worker's Party's Web site, and said he was distracted by his busy schedule. The ruling party said the move was deliberate because Gomez didn't need the form to stand for election in his district, the Straits Times reported. Parties wrapped up campaigns with election-eve rallies in at least eight constituencies, including Hougang, which is controlled by the Workers' Party. About 10,000 people attended the opposing party's rally in central Singapore as party chief Low Thia Khiang and other candidates made a final pitch to win votes, raising issues including the level of disclosure of ministerial salaries and a freer society to stem the flow of migration among younger adults. Critics of Singapore's political system include Human Rights Watch, billionaire George Soros, and members of the European Parliament, who have said the government should have a fairer system for the opposition and allow freer speech. Incentives To compete in districts where there's a contest, the ruling party is offering incentives such as improvements to government- built apartments including extra rooms or elevators that stop at every story. The opposition has said the policy is unfair. About 80 percent of Singapore's citizens live in public housing. The elder Lee said on April 28 at a Foreign Correspondents Association's dinner that he didn't expect the opposition, which won two of the 84 seats in the previous election, to improve in this election and that they may lose one of the two districts they're contesting. The prime minister said he could ``deal with'' the two elected opposition members, as well as a third who was nominated after losing in the previous election, the Straits Times reported, citing Lee at a political rally. However, if there were 10 to 20 opposition seats in Parliament, he would have to spend more time thinking about countering them and solving the week's problems instead of longer-term concerns, the paper said. ``The human rights groups will always have issues with disciplinarian or Victorian-nanny approaches, but that's just not going to affect investments,'' said Richard Baker, a former U.S. diplomat who's a special assistant to the president of the East-West Center, a research organization in Honolulu. ``The investors look first and foremost at stability and economic success, and Singapore has got it all.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Linus Chua in Singapore at lchua@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: May 6, 2006 00:45 EDT