According to activists from People’s Action Party (PAP), the next general election could be held as soon as May, according to a report by The New Paper early this morning (17 March).

An anonymous senior party activist speaking to The Straits Times said that the stabilisation of coronavirus cases would impact the timing of the polls, adding that he doesn’t think the elections will happen next month.

“We have to wait for the 30-day window that Minister Lawrence Wong mentioned – it has to be safe enough for people to vote,” said the activist.

“(GE is) likely to be in May, as long as things stabilise. The PM is then likely to press the button (for us to go). We can’t say for sure this will happen, but this is what we are anticipating,” he added.

The 30-day period is in reference to National Development Minister Lawrence Wong’s announcement on Sunday (15 March) in which he issued a travel advisory for Singaporeans to defer all non-essential travel abroad.

He also announced that all travellers entering Singapore who have visited other ASEAN countries, Japan, Switzerland and the United Kingdom in the past two weeks will be issued a 14-day stay-home notice.

TNP notes that another reason elections might not take place in April is that the electoral registers have to be updated. Based on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s Facebook post on Saturday (14 March), the GE can only be called after that is done, which can take up to a month. Only after that can parliament be dissolved followed by the issuance of the writ of election.

Now, the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee released its report on boundary revisions on 13 March, seven months after the committee was formed. Historically, the release of the report signals that elections are imminent.

Given the public health concerns, some of the PAP activists that ST spoke to are expecting live-streaming of townhall sessions would replace mass rallies.

However, many netizens and opposition politicians are urging the ruling party to hold off on calling the elections for now and focus on managing the coronavirus outbreak instead.

Opposition urges the government to focus on COVID-19 instead of elections

The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) said on Friday that it hopes the PAP “will not capitalised on the crisis” by holding the GE during this time. SDP said that this would ”take away valuable resources needed to combat the virus outbreak and jeopardise the public’s health and well-being”.

To “prematurely” call for an election at this stage, said SDP, would “signal that the PAP is putting its own interests over the people’s safety”.

Singapore People’s Party (SPP) similarly urged the Government to hold off the GE at this time, as this is “not the time for partisan politics”.

Holding an election “when the situation is rapidly evolving” would be “nothing less than irresponsible” on the part of the Government, said the party in a statement on Saturday.

Speaking to TOC in response to a query, the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) stressed the importance of focusing on fighting the outbreak for now.

Singaporeans First party chief Tan Jee Say said that ruling out holding a GE at “until the threat of a community spread of the coronavirus has been convincingly eliminated” is “the only responsible thing to do” at this point.

Meanwhile, the People’s Voice Party (PV) chief Lim Tean similarly highlighted the decision of the Electoral Commission In England to postpone local elections in the midst of the Covid-19 outbreak.

“Compare this to the increasing likelihood of the PAP plunging our Nation into the General Elections during the crisis, for their own selfish purposes,” charged Mr Lim.

People’s Power Party secretary-general Goh Meng Seng said that calling for elections during the outbreak along with “gerrymandering” of electoral boundaries will backfire against the PAP, adding that an election during the outbreak would require all parties to take extra precautions.

He said, “As the ruling party, PAP should focus on managing this crisis instead of distracting itself with GE.”

“We would urge PAP to put public health and interests as its first priority instead of its own party’s interests.”

Workers’ Party (WP), the only opposition party to have representatives in Parliament currently, however, did not comment on whether the timing of the upcoming GE is reasonable.

In a statement on 15 March, WP said that while it does not want to partake in speculation, it urges the government to take caution and exercise judiciousness in calling for a GE.

“Whatever decision that is made must be one that is in the the best interests of Singapore, our democracy and the public health of Singaporeans.” said the party.

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

柔佛州政府同意兴建新马第三大桥

为解决新马关卡堵塞问题,马来西亚柔佛州政府同意接受当局建议,兴建新马第三大桥。 对此,马国内政部长慕尤丁认为,目前跨越新马的第二通道使用量已经饱和,有必要兴建第三大桥缓解关卡问题。 他昨日(25日)出席柔佛州议会的柔佛财政预算案辩论环节中指出,若柔佛政府同意,中央政府将著手进行初步研究。他也表明第三跨境大桥不一定是跨海大桥,亦可以是海底隧道。 据马国媒体报导,柔佛主管公共工程、交通及基础建设的行政议员(州内阁部长)莫哈末索里汉,指柔佛州同意兴建马新第三大桥的建议,并将会在近期内正式致函给中央政府表明州政府同意的立场,惟兴建地点和方式则由中央政府进一步研究。 当询及兴建第三大桥的策略性地点是否会在笨珍时,莫哈末索里汉表示目前并未获得任何建议,但也有接获将笨珍龟咯渡轮码头新增渡轮航班地点的建议。 马来西亚与柔佛州都曾提过兴建第三大桥解决堵塞问题,当时有消息传出,第三大桥可能从巴西古当的丹绒布蒂里衔接士乃-迪沙鲁大道至新加坡乌敏岛,再通往新加坡本岛,大桥桥身约三公里,但始终都没有落实。 今年,马国首相敦马哈迪更公开直指我国对兴建第三大桥的建议不愿配合,对此他“感到不解”。  

不准雇员在家工作 三工作场所被令停工!

人力部在过去两天展开了全岛执法行动,检测超过200个工作场所在恢复营运时,所采取的安全管理措施,其中有三个工作场所因无法达标而遭下令停工。 人力部昨日(6月3日)在脸书发帖,指当局在6月起展开了两天执法行动,旨在减低在工作场所发生疫情传染的风险。被下令停工的工作场所涉及了指示所有员工返回办公室工作,而不允许他们继续居家工作。 此外,当局也向违反安全措施的雇主开出了14份销案罚款。 “可以了解有些雇主在经过两个月的阻断器措施后,急于让员工返回工作场所。但是我们要提醒雇主,仍然要让可以居家办公的员工继续这样做。” 当局也强调,若接获可居家办公的员工投诉被雇主要求返回工作场所,他们将会请雇主解释有关举措;若解释不合理,则会采取相应的执法措施。 他们促请雇主和员工认真看待安全管理措施,保障工作场所和体制上下的安全。 他们也欢迎针对防范冠毒措施有疑问者,可参考当局官网的常见问题,而有疑问和建议者也可透过线上表格询问。

欺骗分时度假会员取消配套可领回资金 法院判男子四年两周监禁

一名男子因涉嫌欺骗分时度假会员,取消配套可领回资金,被法院判处四年两周的监禁。 警方昨日(3日)发出文告,42岁的亚新(译名)涉嫌诱骗分时度假会员在终止会籍后,只要支付一定费用,便可索回资金。 据警方表示,他透过Solution One私人有限公司作为实施诡计的媒介,并且招募训练员工招揽客户。 “在2013年8月至2015年9月期间,已有47名分时会员接受这项服务”,警方表示。 实际上,亚新知道Solution One私人有限公司并没有这项服务,最终受害者支付94万2141新元后,却没有得到如预期的结果。 2018年6月28日,亚新被控欺诈营商(Fraudulent Trading),违反了公司法第340条。另一名与亚新共同经营Solution One私人有限公司的罪犯,亦被控相同罪名。 警方指出,目前两起诉讼仍在进行中。 另一方面,亚新在2015年的1月至7月期间,透过Allied…

王乙康:需做好防疫措施 家教老师可上门补习

家教老师明日(6月19日)起可上门授课! 教育部长王乙康,在脸书专页帖文回应家长所提出的数项问题,强调学校在进行体育课时,会尽量减少学生和他人的接触,例如羽球、乒乓等,并且将人数限制在五人以内。 他也表示,暂时校方不回复课外活动,只采用电子课外辅助课程,如电脑程序、美术或机器人技术等。“对某些学生来说,这可能是一种新体验,因为他们可能无法进行之前所选择的课外活动,但是他们会学习到新东西。” 他也促请上门授课的家教老师和学生,都必须戴口罩、测量体温,并且申报健康情况。家教老师抵达学生家中时,还需要使用SafeEntry访客登记系统,以方便当局进行病例接触者追踪行动。