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| GE 2011 |
All districts except a ward long controlled by the city-state's founding father Lee Kuan Yew will be contested, making it the strongest opposition challenge so far against the People's Action Party (PAP), which has been in power since 1959.
"I can assure you I'll look after you for the next five years," the 87-year-old Lee, who has not faced any opposition in his district since 1991, told cheering supporters.
Six smaller parties are fielding candidates including former civil servants and PAP activists disenchanted with the government led since 2004 by Lee's son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Despite leading Singapore out of a recession in 2009 to a record economic growth of 14.5 percent last year, the PAP is grappling with voter complaints over concerns including rising inflation and competition for jobs from foreign workers.
"This is arguably the most competitive election in Singapore’s history," Bridget Welsh, a political science professor at the Singapore Management University, told AFP. "The different parties in the opposition have a fighting chance to win," Welsh said, but added that the opposition faced difficult terrain "given the historic dominance of the PAP politically and control of the campaign."
Lee Kuan Yew and four other members of the PAP were declared the only qualified candidates in the port district Tanjong Pagar after a tiny opposition party failed to beat the noon deadline to file candidacies.
The walkover left 82 of the 87 seats up for grabs, with some 2.2 million voters eligible to cast their ballots in the contested districts, many of them voting for the first time because of repeated no-contests in the past.
The opposition held only two of the 84 seats in the previous parliament dissolved last week.
The best ever showing by the opposition since independence in 1965 was in 1991 when they won four seats out of the 81 at stake.
"This election, we are determined to make a breakthrough in Aljunied," said Sylvia Lim from the Workers' Party, referring to a five-seat district that her party is trying to wrest from a PAP team led by Foreign Minister George Yeo.
"You are our secret weapon," she said, pointing to cheering supporters.
