Singapore election: PAP to campaign on bread-and-butter issues, PM Lee says

His People’s Action Party, which is fielding 27 new candidates, is seeking to renew its mandate at the July 10 snap polls amid the coronavirus crisis

Ten small opposition parties will face off with the PAP for 93 parliamentary seats, in what Lee says is ‘not a normal election’

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Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 12:46pm, 27 Jun 2020Updated: 12:59pm, 27 Jun 2020

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, facing a July 10 snap election, on Saturday said his People’s Action Party (PAP) will campaign on bread-and-butter issues amid the coronavirus crisis, in a departure from its usual practice of addressing long-term issues during elections.

Unveiling the party’s manifesto, Lee said the plans he was announcing differed from a normal election, when the campaign agenda would “focus on all our long-term ideas to improve and transform Singapore”.

In normal times, “Singaporeans expect everything to continue running smoothly and the PAP to continue to govern properly before and after election”, Lee said.

Singapore is heading into an election in the midst of one of the worst crises to hit the nation since independence. Photo: EPA-EFE

“But this time is different. This is not a normal election and we are not in a normal situation,” Lee said in a live-streamed address. “We are in the middle of the most severe crisis … that the world has faced in many decades. The immediate running of Singapore is anything but routine.”

While the PAP is expected to extend its 61-year-rule of the island state with relative comfort, Lee described the contest as a “tough election”, given how “Singaporeans have lost jobs, families have suffered [and] many are hurting from the pandemic”.

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