Presidential election outcome might point out degree of support for Singapore’s lengthy-ruling People’s Action Party, analysts say.
Singaporeans are heading to the polls within the metropolis-state’s first contested presidential election in 12 years, a vote being intently watched as a sign of support for the ruling party after a uncommon spate of political scandals.
Observers stated the results of Friday’s vote might point out the extent of support for the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) forward of common elections due by 2025, or public discontent after latest scandals that embody a corruption probe into the transport minister and the resignations of two PAP legislators over an affair.
“The presidential election is increasingly being treated as a general election,” Mustafa Izzuddin, a political analyst with consultancy Solaris Strategies Singapore, informed the French information company AFP.
“An increase in protest voting is anticipated due to vacillating ground sentiments vis-a-vis the ruling government,” Izzuddin stated.
The PAP suffered its worst-ever election efficiency in 2020 however maintained its greater than two-thirds majority.
The metropolis-state’s authorities is run by the prime minister, presently Lee Hsien Loong of the PAP, which has dominated Singapore constantly since 1959.
While the presidency is a largely ceremonial, nonpartisan publish beneath the structure, political strains had been already drawn forward of the election to exchange incumbent Halimah Yacob, who ran unopposed for her six-yr time period in 2017.
Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng, reporting from Singapore, stated elections in Singapore are “usually very predictable things”.
But the results of this election might be attention-grabbing as it comes at a time when the ruling PAP has been beneath some strain, which raises the opportunity of a “protest vote”, Cheng stated.
“The ruling party has been in power since 1959. But with the new generation of voters going to the ballot box, there is the possibility that this presidential election could see that very rare thing – a protest vote,” Cheng stated.
The election frontrunner is former deputy prime minister and finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, a longtime PAP stalwart earlier than he resigned forward of his candidacy.
The 66-yr-previous economist is broadly perceived as having the federal government’s backing and was questioned about his political independence in the course of the marketing campaign.
Another candidate, former insurance coverage government Tan Kin Lian, 75, has gained the support of a number of opposition leaders, and candidate, Ng Kok Song, 75, is the previous chief funding officer of Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, which manages the nation’s international reserves.
Singapore requires presidential candidates to have served both as a senior civil servant or the chief government of an organization with shareholder fairness of a minimum of 500 million Singaporean {dollars} ($370m) as the president formally oversees town’s amassed monetary reserves and holds the ability to veto sure measures and approve anticorruption probes.
Voting is obligatory for Singapore’s greater than 2.7 million eligible residents. Those who don’t vote with out a legitimate motive threat being struck from the voter record.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/1/singapore-holds-presidential-vote-seen-as-test-for-ruling-party-support?traffic_source=rss
