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The last time Singapore held elections, it was in the throes of a global crisis. That’s also true today.
Five years ago, the governing party portrayed itself as the steady hand to guide the nation through the coronavirus pandemic. The pitch is the same this time, only with a different catalyst: President Trump’s upending of the international trade order.
And, like last time, there is no doubt that the People’s Action Party, which has been in power since 1959, will retain office. But Saturday’s election will be a test of the popularity of the P.A.P., which had a near record-low showing in 2020, even as it garnered a clear majority. It was growing evidence of a desire for a competitive democracy in the city-state.
When polls opened on Saturday morning, people stood in line to cast their ballot as heavy rain fell in parts of Singapore. The voting age is 21 here, and all citizens are required to vote. Polling stations close at 8 p.m. local time, and a final result is not expected until after midnight.
Many political analysts agree that the opposition is gaining clout in Singapore, with voters unhappy about the P.A.P.’s response to the rising cost of living. During the campaign, rallies for the country’s main opposition party, the Workers’ Party, were packed. Still, Pritam Singh, the party’s leader, took pains to assure the public that his party was not contesting enough seats to form a government, merely that Singapore needed a more balanced political system.
“When you have opposition in Parliament, your alternative voice is heard by the government,” Mr. Singh said at his party’s first rally last week.
Steven Yeong, 54, echoed that sentiment. “Like many Singaporeans, I would like to see more robust debates in Parliament, with more representation from diverse voices,” said Mr. Yeong, who has been unemployed for six months.
Another issue that has been a worry, he added, is how “the government makes it rather easy for educated foreigners to compete for jobs with us.”
The election is the first under Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who took office last year after the two-decade tenure of Lee Hsien Loong, a son of Singapore’s founding father. Mr. Wong has said that navigating the trade war and U.S.-China tensions “will take people in government who have built up trust and close relationships with their counterparts in both America and China.”
Mr. Wong has warned that the tariffs imposed by the United States will hurt Singapore. Its economy is highly dependent on international trade, with a trade-to-GDP ratio of more than 300 percent, nearly five times the global average. Situated along the Straits of Malacca, one of the world’s major shipping lanes, Singapore’s port ranks among the world’s busiest.
Mr. Wong reiterated the same argument that his party has made for decades: that the P.A.P. has a track record of delivering stability and prosperity to this nation of nearly six million, one of the world’s richest per capita.
The problem is, many average Singaporeans no longer feel prosperous. Singapore now has more millionaires than London. While average wealth has more than doubled in local currency terms, median wealth has fallen 1.8 percent from 2008 to 2023, according to the Swiss bank UBS.
“We can see the gap growing quite substantially,” said Kris Tan, 44, a personal trainer. His wife is a hawker, and he describes their family as lower to middle class. “I am worried about our children’s future in terms of housing, in terms of the cost of living for them.”
Mr. Tan said he was also concerned about the growing elitism, which he says “is getting more and more obvious with regards to the upper echelons of the government compared to the people.” He referenced the million-dollar salaries that the country’s ministers earn.
“My concern is that the government is bringing the country up,” he said, “but it’s also leaving a lot of people behind.”
In the last election, the P.A.P. conceded a record 10 seats to the opposition. Since then, the government has bolstered social spending, giving temporary financial support to people who have been laid off and offering vouchers to help with daily expenses. But it has continued to face discontent over the rising cost of living, increases in the sales tax, and declining housing affordability, issues that the opposition has seized on.
The opposition has widely criticized the P.A.P. for holding one of the world’s shortest campaigning periods — nine days — and for gerrymandering by redrawing election boundaries in districts where they had made gains in the previous poll. The P.A.P. rejected the assertions, saying that the electoral boundaries review committee operates independently of the government.
In February, Mr. Singh was found guilty of lying under oath to Parliament, but voters shrugged it off. In a survey conducted by Blackbox Research in the weeks before the election, Mr. Singh had an approval rating of 71 percent, up seven points from the previous quarter. Mr. Wong was a touch ahead, with 75 percent.
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