PAP is depriving voters of an opportunity to hold their government to account, by setting GE timing to its advantage

Swiftly following the heels of Deputy Prime Minister, Heng Swee Keat saying that the sooner the general elections are held, “the earlier we can rally everybody together to deal with these very significant challenges ahead, and also to deal with these very significant uncertainties in the months and years ahead”, it has now been reported that the general elections are likely to be held in July if the COVID-19 situation improves.
As the speculation on potential election dates abound, the key question that crops up is whether or not the Peoples’ Action Party (PAP) led government already have a date in mind for the general elections?
Based on Heng’s interview with Channel News Asia, it could arguably be assumed that he does, given that he said: “I would say that, yes, elections are coming nearer by the day.”
This begs the question, if he knows the date, why is he holding the rest of Singapore in suspense?
We are in the midst of fighting a global pandemic. If the general election is to be held, all contestants will need to be given ample time to come up with a campaign strategy that will likely be different from previous elections (with the need to socially distance etc to think about).
In view of this, more lead time should be given. Voters will also need more time to digest the campaign messages from each contestant especially if opportunities for face to face engagement will either be non existent or be few and far between.
With the guessing game of when the general election is going to be still ongoing, the People’s Action Party (PAP) dominated government could end up giving the impression that it is using its apparent monopoly on information in relation to the general elections to its advantage.
Most fair minded Singaporeans would not consider this to be  in line with the rules of “fair play”. Will this end up costing votes for the PAP?
More importantly, why is the timing of a general election seemingly within the control of one party? A general election is a national event for the country. It is a chance for voters to hold the government to account. It is an opportunity for the voters to listen to the messages of all contestants from all competing political parties.
By controlling the timing and appearing to use it as a weapon, the government is depriving all voters of this democratic opportunity.