Polls open for the 2006 Parliamentary Elections, Singapore

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Saturday, May 6, 2006

The national flag of Singapore.

Singapore polling stations opened this morning at 8 a.m. SGT (0000 UTC) and are expected to run until 8 p.m. SGT (1200 UTC) tonight. Election results are expected from as early as 10 p.m. SGT (1400 UTC).

For the first time in 18 years, the incumbent People's Action Party (PAP) has not won a walkover victory on Nomination Day on 26th April after opposition parties fielded candidates for 47 of the 84 seats. However, political analysts believe that the PAP will win a majority victory again.

This is the first parliamentary election for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong after he took over from the former Prime Minister and current Senior Minister, Goh Chok Tong stepped down in August 2004 in a planned leadership transition. Lee, 54, is the son of the Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who was the Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990.

As election surveys and exit polls are banned in Singapore, it is difficult to determine how the political outcome might be. However, in the previous parliamentary elections in 2001, the PAP won 82 of 84 seats with 55 walkovers. The 2 remaining seats went to Chiam See Tong of the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) and Low Thia Khiang of the Workers' Party (WP). A win of less than 80 of the 84 seats could prove an embarrassment for PM Lee.

The last nine days saw intense campaigning from the incumbent PAP, the SDA, the WP and the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP). Several thousands of people attended the opposition rallies. Debates about the widening income gap, rising medical costs, job cuts, and calls for a less authoritarian political system dominated the campaigning.

Parties

Party	Abbreviation	Leader	Party/campaign slogans
People's Action Party	PAP	Lee Hsien Loong	"Staying Together, Moving Ahead"
Singapore Democratic Alliance	SDA
Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura	PKMS	Muhamad Ali Aman
Singapore Justice Party	SJP	Aminuddin bin Ami
Singapore People's Party	SPP	Chiam See Tong	"Service before self"
Singapore Democratic Party	SDP	Chee Soon Juan	"Standing up, Speaking out"
Workers' Party of Singapore	WP	Low Thia Khiang	"Power to the People" "You have a Choice!"