[SINGAPORE] Thursday (May 1) marks the ninth and final day of election campaigning before Singapore heads to the polls, with a total of 11 rallies happening across the island from 7 pm to 10 pm.
The People’s Action Party (PAP) is holding five of them, including one at Temasek Junior College for Tampines GRC – the first Group Representation Constituency to see a four-cornered electoral battle since 1992.
Also holding their final rallies are the People’s Power Party, Progress Singapore Party (PSP), Red Dot United, Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) and the Workers’ Party (WP). Mountbatten SMC candidate Jeremy Tan, one of two independents running in this general election, is holding a rally too.
Scroll down for the list of rally sites and selected livestreams.
PAP has drawn up plans with NTUC to help Singapore weather crisis: PM Wong
At the May Day Rally on Thursday morning, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong noted that the PAP and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) have plans to take Singapore through the current crisis.
“As symbiotic partners, we will deliver them – for all workers, for all Singaporeans,” he said.
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PM Wong began his speech by noting that it was the last day of the nine-day campaign. He ended with a call for voters to judge him and his team fairly at the polls on Saturday, and support them if they seem like the best team for Singapore in these turbulent times.
But whatever the outcome of the election, he promised that the PAP “will never step away” from the labour movement.
Echoing a message from earlier in the campaign, he also stressed that the potential loss of key ministers cannot be treated as lightly as opposition parties have done.
Using a football analogy, PM Wong said that even if there are “back-ups and reserves”, the team “cannot function at the same level” if it loses key players.
Similarly, the loss of key ministers “means we cannot have as effective a team working for Singaporeans and Singapore”.
WP’s renewal is important for Singapore’s democracy, says party chief Pritam Singh
In the afternoon, the football analogy was taken up by WP chief Pritam Singh, who said that the PAP “has a deep bench” of substitutes even if specific candidates are not elected.
“They’ve got a bench of another 10 reserves easily. But for the WP, it’s a lot more difficult.”
He was speaking at a walkabout for Punggol GRC, where a WP team of first-timers faces a PAP team led by Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong – whose crucial role in the ongoing US tariff talks has been stressed by the ruling party.
Renewal within the WP is important for the future of Singapore’s democracy, said Singh, urging voters to elect WP’s newcomers to Parliament.
“I hope Singaporeans understand – if we want a more balanced Parliament, we also need to think actively about renewal in the WP too.”
Noting that the WP seeks to bring in candidates who are better than the current leadership, Singh said that there are “excellent individuals” on every WP slate in this election.
PSP dismisses PAP’s concerns about “strong opposition”, says housing remarks were not personal attacks
At a walkabout at Boon Lay Place Food Village on Thursday morning, PSP chairman Tan Cheng Bock responded to Health Minister Ong Ye Kung’s comments that a strong opposition could cause gridlock in Parliament, calling such rhetoric “very old”.
“I’m sure that when there is more opposition in the House, we are going to receive a lot of very diverse views and ideas. People must not be afraid to actually debate,” said Dr Tan.
Noting that the PAP has lost ministers and GRCs before, PSP secretary-general Leong Mun Wai asked: “Has that weakened the government in the past few years or past 10 years? Would a weak government be able to pass through or bulldoze the GST (goods and services tax) in 2022?”
Leong also responded to PM Wong’s charge that opposition parties have launched personal attacks against PAP candidates.
Some opposition candidates’ comments are made in the context of discussing certain policies, he said. “I don’t think there are many comments that are really just directed at the person. For one thing, PSP has not adopted such a strategy or said such things.”
On Wednesday, National Development Minister Desmond Lee said he had addressed national housing issues “on multiple occasions” in the campaign, rebutting Leong’s claim that he had been “silent” on the topic.
In response, Leong said that this was not a personal attack, but “targeted at the fact that he has not responded concretely to some of the policy debates we are trying to have”.
Dr Tan and Leong are part of the PSP’s West Coast-Jurong West team, alongside vice-chairperson Hazel Poa, Sumarleki Amjah and Sani Ismail.
Ong Ye Kung took co-driver analogy too far, misrepresented constructive opposition: SDP chief Chee Soon Juan
At a walkabout at Woodlands Mart, SDP chief Chee Soon Juan said that Health Minister Ong was distorting and misrepresenting the idea of constructive opposition.
At a Wednesday night rally, Ong reinterpreted the analogy of the opposition as a co-driver, first used by former WP chief Low Thia Khiang in 2011. The health minister said that if the opposition presence grows, it will become more than a co-driver and try to steer the car, which might result in a crash.
Dr Chee said that “it was very disappointing” to hear Ong say this, when “constructive opposition is what we are talking about all this time”.
He added that Ong should take a good look at the SDP’s alternative policy papers before criticising the opposition.
Tonight’s rallies:
Rally livestreams
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