General Election Polling Day: May 3 or 7?
Political watchers have narrowed down Singapore's Polling Day to two dates: May 3 or 7.
Director of the Institute of Policy Studies, Ong Keng Yong has heard rumours that Polling Day will be on May 3, but he feels May 7 is more likely as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has no need to rush, he told The Straits Times.
While PM Lee is supposed to be at the Asean Summit in Jakarta on the May 7 weekend, On said Senior Minister S Jayakumar, who is not contesting the General Election, could represent him and PM Lee could fly over on May 8.
The Prime Minister could then also take the opportunity to remind workers of what the government has done for them during the May Day Rally, he added.
Political watcher and law lecturer Eugene Tan, however, felt May 3 is a more likely date for Singapore to go to the polls as it will come just after the goodies from the $3.2 billion Grow and Share Package will be disbursed.
There has to be at least 15 days between the day the President dissolves Parliament and issues the Writ of Election , and Polling Day.
This means, if Polling Day is on May 7, the Writ will have to be issued next Tuesday or Wednesday. (It depends on whether Good Friday, a public holiday on April 22, is counted in the minimum five days required before Nomination Day.)
Nomination Day will then be on April 24 or 25.
However political risk consultant Azhar Ghani felt that Polling Day any time before the Asean summit in Jakarta would be too rushed.
He told the same paper the PAP seems to have taken a wait-and-see approach and could well hold the elections in late May. One possible date is May 21.
On Thursday, Education Minister Ng Eng Hen hinted the GE would be held "sooner rather than later".
Meanwhile, while most political parties are ramping up activity and walkabouts in anticipation of the GE, one party has decided to sit out the coming polls.
The Socialist Front (SF) will not be contesting because it wants to avoid causing three-cornered fights, party chief Chia Ti Lik said on Friday.
The SF and National Solidarity Party have both shown interest in the single-seat wards of Whampoa and Mountbatten.
The decision to sit out the GE has created a rift between Chia and party chairman Ng Teck Siong, who wants to contest in Mountbatten.
Chia said the party would be willing to support Ng's campaign only if other opposition parties back out of the SMC. Otherwise, the party may choose to "take up disciplinary action against our chairman," said Chia.
The SF is the youngest political party in Singapore. It was registered last September and has about 20 members.
