Final day of campaigning for Singapore elections

Candidates running on Friday's general election in Singapore are busy meeting with members of their constituencies Tuesday during the final day of the campaign period.

Among them is Heng Swee Keat, Secretary General of the People's Action Party and Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister. Heng, who is a candidate for the East Coast Group Representation Constituency, spent the morning talking to residents during a campaign walkabout at the Bedok South Market.

Singaporeans go to the polls on July 10 in Southeast Asia's first election since the coronavirus pandemic began, with the health crisis and an economic recession expected to bolster Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's party and extend its unbroken rule.

The PAP, which has ruled Singapore since 1959, has been praised for its economic management but also criticized for muzzling the media and dissenting voices.

It won a landslide victory in 2015 with 69.9% of total votes and swept 83 out of 89 parliamentary seats.

This year, it faces contests for all 93 parliamentary seats but the opposition is fragmented.

Analyst Eugene Tan from the Singapore Management University says that the main thing that the ruling People's Action Party will seek from this general election is a strong and clear mandate.

While victory is undoubted for the ruling party, the entry of Lee's estranged younger brother into the political fray has injected some excitement and hope that the opposition can expand their token presence in parliament.

Lee Hsien Yang is not running in Friday's general election but said last week when the campaign period started that he hopes to be a "catalyst for change".

He brought his family feud into politics by joining an opposition party, says the governing party has "lost its way" from when his father, Lee Kuan Yew, was prime minister.

Tan, the analyst, believes that the presence of Lee Hsien Yang can be a double edged sword for the opposition because it could signal that he's bringing what is regarded as a family dispute into the political setting, which may not appeal to voters.

However, Tan said that Lee Hsien Yang could bring some assistance to the opposition if he is campaigning on the basis that the ruling party has lost its way.

The Lee brothers, whose father Lee Kuan Yew was Singapore's first and longest-serving prime minister who turned it into an affluent city-state, have engaged in a public spat since 2017 over the late patriarch's family home.

Lee Hsien Yang and his sister Lee Wei Ling accused their eldest brother of abusing his power to stop them from demolishing the family home according to the wishes of their father, who died in 2015.

They accused him of seeking to preserve the house to maintain his own political popularity and legitimacy.

Lee Hsien Loong said the government should be allowed to decide whether to maintain the house as part of the national heritage and that he had no role in the decision.

Opposition parties have accused the government of putting politics above public safety by holding the polls during the coronavirus pandemic but Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said they can be held safely.

Campaigning was muted, with strict safe distancing measures and rallies banned.

More polling centers have been set up, with the 2.65 million eligible voters given specific times to cast their ballots to reduce crowding and priority will be given to senior citizens.