Prime Minister Lawrence Wong says that City-State is in a “critical situation” amid global uncertainties.
Singapore will celebrate general elections on May 3, according to the authorities of the city-state, racing the way for the first electoral test of Prime Minister Lawrence Wong since he entered the position last year.
The Singapore election department announced the vote date on Tuesday, shortly after the prime minister’s office said the president of Singapore, Charman Shanmugratnam, had dissolved the Parliament for the Council of Wong.
The election arrives at a delicate time for Singapore, whose economy relative to export faces the winds against the commercial war of the president of the United States, Donald Trump.
Wong, who successful the former Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in May, said he called the elections to give the Singapurenses the opportunity to choose their next team of leaders in a “critical situation” for the country.
“We are witnessing deep changes in the world. It is becoming more uncertain, restless and even unstable,” Wong said on a publication on his Facebook page.
“The global conditions that allowed Singapore’s success in recent decades can no longer be maintained.”
While a total of 97 seats are at stake in the elections, the ruler Popular Party of Wong (PAP) is sure to retain power.
The PAP, co-founded by the founding father of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, has governed the city-state without interruption, since he achieved the self-government of Great Britain in 1959.
While the PAP never recovered less than 60 percent of the votes, critics have accused the government of suppressing opposition voices through Gerrymenders and strict controls about free expression and assembly.
In 2020, the main party of opposition workers assured its better election result, winning 10 of the 93 seats in dispute.
Surveys have suggested that elections could be more competitive than votes.
In a survey conducted by Yougov last month, only 44 percent of respondents said they had decided why vote.
Among those who had invented 63 percent said they would choose the PAP and 15 percent said they preferred the workers’ party.