Singaporean general election, 2006

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Singaporean general election, 2006 All 84 seats to the Parliament of Singapore
May 6, 2006
		Government	Opposition	Third Party
Leader		Lee Hsien Loong	Low Thia Khiang	Chiam See Tong
Party		PAP	WP	SDA
Leader since		2004	2001	2001
Leader's seat		Ang Mo Kio GRC	Hougang SMC	Potong Pasir SMC
Last election		82 seats, 75.3%	1 seat, 16.34%	1 seat+NCMP, 12.00%
Seats won		82	1+NCMP	1
Seat change		-	-	-
Popular vote		747,860	183,604	145,902
Swing		+45.4%	+13.30%	+0.96%
Incumbent PM Lee Hsien Loong PAP PM-Elect Lee Hsien Loong PAP

Singapore

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The 2006 Singapore parliamentary general election was held on May 6 2006. 1.22 million out of the 2.16 million eligible Singaporeans voted for Members of Parliament and elected their next government.^[1] The People's Action Party (PAP) won 66.6% of the overall votes and gained 82 out of 84 seats. The PAP returned for a twelfth consecutive term in office under Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.^[2] The general election was held under the first-past-the-post system. The parliament was dissolved by President S R Nathan on 20 April, three weeks before the election. On Nomination Day, the PAP gained 37 seats in divisions which were uncontested by other parties.^[3] The main election issues included employment, cost of living, housing, transport, education, the need for an effective opposition voice in parliament, and the quality of the candidates.

[edit] Background

The 2006 General Election was the 15th General Election in Singapore and the 10th since independence. The governing People's Action Party (PAP) sought to secure their twelfth consecutive term in office since 1959. This would be the first election since Lee Hsien Loong became its Secretary-General.

[edit] Political parties

Besides the ruling PAP, the other major political parties were the Workers' Party of Singapore (WP) led by Low Thia Khiang, the Singapore People's Party (SPP) led by Chiam See Tong, the National Solidarity Party (NSP) led by Steve Chia Kiah Hong, and the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) led by Chee Soon Juan, who himself was ineligible to run in this election because of a 2002 conviction.^[4]

Four parties, including the SPP and the NSP, contested the election as members of the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA).

See also: list of political parties in Singapore.

[edit] Election deposit

For this election, the deposit for each candidate was set at S$13,500 (approximately US$8590 or £4620) which was about 8% of the total annual salary to a Member of Parliament in the preceding year, rounded to the nearest S$500. The regulations of the elections stated that the deposit was to be forfeited if the candidate failed to obtain at least one-eighth of the votes.^[5]

[edit] Electorate

All citizens above 21 years of age, based on the Registers of Electors, were eligible to vote. The Elections Department had completed its revision of the Registers and made them available for public inspection from January 17 through January 30, 2006.^[6] There were 2,158,439 eligible voters.^[7] The 2006 elections was the first election where more than half the electorate were of the post-independence generation, i.e., those born after Singapore's independence in 1965.

For the first time in Singapore's election history, Singaporeans living overseas were able to vote at designated polling stations located within Singapore's High Commissions, Embassies or Consulates in other countries.^[8] To be qualified to vote in overseas, they must have had either resided in Singapore for an aggregate of two of the past five years, or be overseas for reasons of employment or education related to the Singapore government.^[9] There were several overseas polling stations, namely Tokyo, Canberra, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, London, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. 1,017 Singaporeans overseas had registered for overseas voting by March 22 2006, although only 558 voted as the rest had a walkover in their constituencies.^[7]

[edit] Electoral divisions

Main articles: List of Singaporean electoral divisions and constituencies of Singapore

On March 3, 2006, the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee published the updated list of electoral divisions. There were fourteen Group Representation Constituencies, each with five or six seats, and nine Single Member Constituencies. The total number of seats remained the same at 84 as the previous general election in 2001. The two opposition held SMCs i.e. Hougang SMC and Potong Pasir SMC were intact. Also unchanged was the Chua Chu Kang SMC which saw a close contest in the previous election between the ruling PAP's Low Seow Chay and NSP's Steve Chia who later became a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament until 2006.

Two new Single Member Constituencies (Bukit Panjang SMC and Yio Chu Kang SMC) were created and two (Ayer Rajah SMC and Bukit Timah SMC) were absorbed into Group Representation Constituencies. East Coast Group Representation Constituency was reduced to five seats and Pasir Ris-Punggol Group Representation Constituency was increased to six.^[10] Significant changes in GRC boundaries include a major shuffle within 3 GRCs, they are East Coast GRC, Aljunied GRC and Marine Parade GRC. Parts of Bedok New Town, Bedok North Green, Chai Chee Gardens and Kampong Chai Chee were transferred from East Coast to Marine Parade GRC. An area bounded by the Pan Island Expressway, Jalan Eunos and Sims Avenue East were transferred from Aljunied to Marine Parade GRC. In return, the Serangoon division was transferred to Aljunied GRC.^[11] In other changes, a part of Yishun from Sembawang GRC was transferred to Nee Soon East SMC, and a section of Holland-Bukit Panjang GRC (now Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) was transferred to Tanjong Pagar GRC.

Singapore Electoral Boundaries, released in March 2006.

[edit] Election issues

As in previous elections, bread and butter issues — including jobs, medical care and cost of living — dominated the election campaign.^[12] Other major election issues are listed in the following.^[13][14]

• Social
  • Integrated Resorts and legalisation of casino gambling^[13]
  • Education policy^[13][14]
  • Public transport^[13]
  • Public housing policy^[14]
  • Lift Upgrading Programme(LUP)^[14]
• Governance
  • Progress package and Budget 2006^[13]
  • Group representation constituency system^[13]
  • Central Provident Fund scheme^[13]
  • Internal Security Act and civil liberties^[13]
  • Ministerial pay^[13]
• Others
  • National Kidney Foundation Singapore scandal^[15]
  • Integrity of the candidates, such as the James Gomez incident^[16]

[edit] Pre-nomination day events

Main article: Pre-election day events of the Singapore general election, 2006#Pre-nomination day events

[edit] Dissolution of Parliament

On 20 April 2006, Parliament was dissolved by President Sellapan Ramanathan on the advice of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.^[17] Later that day, the President issued the Writ of Election and the government announced that the election would be held on Saturday, 6 May 2006, with nomination day on Thursday, 27 April 2006. The Returning Officer was to be Tan Boon Huat, Chief Executive Director of the People's Association.^[18]

[edit] New candidates

This election saw a large number of new candidates as the major political parties had undergone self-renewal in recent years. Many of the new candidates belong to the post-1965 generation. PAP introduced 24 new candidates, including 7 women. The opposition Workers' Party and the Singapore Democratic Alliance also introduced many first-timers for this election including three women from the Workers' Party.

Goh Chok Tong of the PAP, speaking at a rally at Potong Pasir SMC. The banner behind him shows the campaign slogan of the party, "Staying Together, Moving Ahead".

[edit] Budget day and progress package

On 17 February 2006, Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore and Secretary General of the PAP delivered the country's Budget Statement to the Parliament. He released details of a S$2.6 billion on a "progress package" including S$500 million for Central Provident Fund top-ups, S$400 million for workfare bonuses, and S$200 million bonuses for national servicemen. Largely due to this package, the 2006 Budget incurred a deficit of S$2.86 billion.^[19][20]

Low Thia Khiang (WP) came out strongly against the progress package which he said was no more than a vote-winning tool for the PAP. Low called for greater transparency on how the government intend to finance the package and to compensate for the budget shortfall. Wong Kan Seng (PAP) later dismissed claims that the progress package constitutes a form of vote buying.^[21][22]

[edit] Workers' Party manifesto

The Workers' Party (WP) launched an update to its manifesto on 14 January 2006, becoming the first party to do so.^[23] Amongst its policy proposals, WP called for the Presidency to revert to its former ceremonial role and the abolishment of the GRCs, the Ethnic Integration Policy for Housing and Development Board flats, the Resident Committees and the Citizen Consultative Committees. It also revealed its intentions to establish a central agency in the provision of public transport, set up of a national unemployment insurance scheme and a more comprehensive national health insurance scheme among a host of other things.

On 21 January, PAP launched a coordinated attack on the WP's proposals, describing four of their proposals as "four time bombs...[which] will weaken and tear Singapore apart".^[24] Khaw Boon Wan, revealed various changes in medical policies, including the Medisave scheme, which had been a constant target for criticism by opposition parties. He also chided the WP for its "failure to understand what makes inter-racialism work in Singapore and why we are different from the rest of the world", referring the four points brought up by Ng Eng Hen as "poisons"^[25] Workers' Party Chairman Sylvia Lim released a press statement^[26] on 22 January, responding to each of the four "time bombs" criticised by Ng and adding that the party was standing firmly by its manifesto.^[27]

[edit] Goh Chok Tong's special assignment

On 19 March, Lee Hsien Loong said that PAP was aiming to win all the constituencies including the two opposition wards in Hougang SMC and Potong Pasir SMC, stating that "We want to win, this is not masak-masak [a Malay term meaning a child's game]". The PAP candidates for these two wards would be Eric Low and Sitoh Yih Pin respectively. Both lost in the previous elections but had been working the ground in these wards since. They were assisted by Goh Chok Tong who had been given the special assignment to help the PAP win the two wards.^[28]

Goh had suggested that if Eric Low and Sitoh Yih Pin won the election, they would be given extra latitude when speaking and voting in parliament and not be subjected to the political Whip. Goh also said that he would help Sitoh to gain a post in the new Cabinet if he was elected.^[29] Hougang and Potong Pasir residents were also been promised housing upgrades worth $100 million and $80 million dollars respectively if PAP was to retake the two seats. Since they were won by opposition parties, both of these constituencies have not been selected for housing upgrading or provided with lifts that stop on every floor. When the PAP shaved the Worker's Party's vote share from 58% to 55% in the 1997 General Election, then prime-minister Goh offered to upgrade Hougang estate if the WP's chief's share of vote was reduced to 52%. Nonetheless, Hougang remains in opposition hand.

[edit] Remarks in The New Democrat

In April 2006, the SDP published an article headlined "Govt's role in the NKF scandal" in the SDP party newspaper The New Democrat regarding the National Kidney Foundation Singapore scandal. On 22 April, letters of demand were served on twelve members of the SDP and the publisher. Drew and Napier, the law firm acting for Lee Hsien Loong and Lee Kuan Yew, said that the newspaper article had alleged that the two Lees were "dishonest and unfit for office", that Lee Kuan Yew "devised a corrupt political system for the benefit of the political elite", and that he managed the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation in a "corrupt manner". In addition, according to the letter of demand, the newspaper also alleged that Lee Hsien Loong had "perpetuated a corrupt political system for the benefit of the political elite" and how he and his Government "had access to the information which has now been unearthed about NKF but corruptly concealed and covered up the facts to avoid criticism".^[30] The letters demanded that damages be paid and an apology made in the media by April 25.^[15]

Four of SDP's eleven committee members later apologised, while the chairman of the party had refused to apologise as it would constitute "an admission of guilt". An apology had been formally rejected by the party, though the party would not oppose individual members from making personal apologies. M Ravi, the lawyer representing most of the accused, had rejected claims made in the letters that allegations made in the paper were "highly defamatory", and he "[does] not see how a government or public body could be defamed". On 27 April, Chee said that the threat of legal action was already seriously affecting SDP's campaign at Sembawang GRC: "Lawyers for Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Mr Lee Hsien Loong have gone as far as to sue the printer, so much so that he is so frightened he dares not publish our election material."^[31] SDP was still seen selling the publication, and the Lees were seeking aggravated damages.^[32][33] Only the Chee siblings have yet to make a public apology.

[edit] SDP podcast

On 25 April, Elections Department warned SDP that it would take action against the party if they did not remove audio files and podcasts from the party's website as they were against election advertising regulations under the Parliamentary Elections Act. Within hours after the notice was issued, SDP posted a notice on its website that the podcast service was suspended.^[34]

[edit] Nomination day

[edit] Planning for nomination day by political parties

As early as January 2006, when it became clear that the election would be held soon, the political parties began making definitive plans for Nomination Day.^{[35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]}

On 10 March 2006, the major opposition parties held a meeting, after which they announced their intention to contest 57 of the 84 seats in Parliament.^[43] Nonetheless, the full detail of the opposition's plan was not revealed until Nomination Day itself. Steve Chia told reporters: "Any self-respecting politician will hold his cards close to his chest."^[44]

There were nine SMCs with 1 seat each for the election. For smaller political parties and independents who do not have sufficient candidates and resources to contest the GRCs, the SMCs were the only constituencies that they could afford to run. In addition, many believe that opposition candidates have a higher chance of winning in SMCs than in GRCs. Since there were only nine SMCs, all were expected to be contested. The opposition tried to avoid three-cornered fights by coordinating with each other. Chiam See Tong (SPP) said that "if we enter into one [three-cornered fight], we're only going to kill ourselves. We're not that stupid."^[45]

In March 2006, it was thought that there could be a potential three-cornered contest in MacPherson SMC, where both Mansor Rahman, Chairman of Democratic Progressive Party, and Sin Kek Tong, Chairman of Singapore People's Party had indicated their parties' interest to run for that seat. Later, the parties managed to reach an agreement and avoided the unfavourable contest. Tan Lead Shake, previously a prominent member of DPP, later joined the Singapore Democratic Alliance, and became a member of SDA's team contesting Tampines GRC.

By 26 April 2006, the opposition had indicated they would contest at least half of the seats in the 84 member Parliament. There were forty-seven candidates standing for election with ten new candidates facing the opposition. Candidates standing for election had only an hour to present their nomination papers, and must be accompanied by their proposers, seconders and assentors. Observers projected that 37 People's Action Party candidates from seven Group Representative Constituencies would return unopposed and the PAP would be denied a majority on nomination day,^[46] an eventuality that proved to be true.

[edit] Early announcement of intention by parties

Some of the opposition parties, such as Workers' Party and Singapore Democratic Alliance, adopted the strategy of announcing early their plans on which constituencies they intended to contest, even before changes in electoral boundaries were published. This was seen as a tactical move to earmark those divisions in order to discourage any third party from contesting in the same divisions leading to three-cornered fights. Another cited reason was that, if the Government electoral commission redrew those boundaries, the opposition would be able to exploit such actions by accusing the PAP of gerrymandering to avoid the ballot challenge.^[47]

[edit] Nomination day results

Electoral map showing the various contests. The PAP fielded candidates in all 84 seats, with 37 seats (shown in blue) won as walkovers on nomination day. The battlegrounds were the remaining 47 seats contested by WP (yellow), SDA (red), and SDP (green).

On nomination day^[3] 7 GRCs totalling 37 seats, were uncontested and returned to the PAP. This was less than half the number of 84 seats, and for the first time since 1988, the PAP was not returned to power on nomination day. The Elections Department announced that over 1.2 million Singaporeans, 56.6% of eligible voters, would be able to cast votes.

The opposition parties' 47 candidates for the 2006 election was a large increase from the 29 candidates in the previous election in 2001. In addition, there was no three-cornered fight as all contests were between the PAP and one opposition party. There was also no independent candidate participating in this election; this was a rare occurrence as independent candidates had participated in every election since 1955, except in 1980.

[edit] Diversity of candidates

All eighteen candidates for the SMCs were male Chinese. On 28 April, Lee Kuan Yew (PAP) referred to this fact when defending the Group Representation Constituency (GRC) system on the grounds that it ensures minority and women representation in parliament.^[48] Nonetheless, there is no requirement that GRCs should have at least one female candidate.

Over the years, each GRC team has been steadily increased by the government from 3 to 5 or 6 members. WP had called for the abolishment of the GRC system which it considered as a means introduced by the PAP to make it difficult for opposition who lack sufficient resource to contest the large electoral division.

[edit] Events between nomination day and election day

Main article: Pre-election day events of Singapore general election, 2006#Post-nomination day to election day events

Campaign posters for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC

The huge crowd attending a Workers' Party rally in Hougang on 30 April 2006. Photo courtesy of www.yawningbread.org

Campaign banners for Aljunied GRC, one of the election hotspots where a fierce fight was expected.

Campaign posters for Ang Mo Kio GRC. The bottom poster presents the six members of WP's "suicide squad" sent to challenge the flagship PAP team shown above.

A large crowd attending the first Workers' Party election rally at Ubi on 28 April 2006. (©Alex Au, used with permission only.)

With the nominations completed, the opposition was contesting 47 seats with the remaining 37 returned to the PAP. The PAP was thus denied a walkover majority to form a government on nomination day, the first time since 1988.^[49][3][50]

Between 28 April to 5 May, a total of 50 political rallies were held by the parties at 24 designated sites during nine days of campaign. The "Lunchtime Rally Site" at Boat Quay, next to UOB Plaza, made a comeback in the election; it was removed from the list of rally sites in the previous election due to fears of terrorist attacks after the September 11, 2001 attacks.^[51]

The Workers' Party had put up their strongest team, consisting of its more prominent candidates led by Chairman Sylvia Lim, to contest Aljunied GRC challenging the PAP team led by Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo. The constituency eventually had the fiercest GRC contest in the election. The strongest GRC team for the SDA was one contesting Jalan Besar GRC. It was led by Sebestian Teo and its members include former MP Cheo Chai Chen.

The hotly contested Single Member Constituencies include Chua Chu Kang SMC where incumbent MP and Minister of State for Education and Manpower Gan Kim Yong was challenged by NSP's secretary-general Steve Chia. Low Thia Khiang (WP), the incumbent MP for Hougang SMC faced a strong challenged from PAP's Eric Low Siak Meng. Nee Soon East SMC was hotly contested with Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs Ho Peng Kee against Poh Lee Guan (WP). Potong Pasir SMC, another opposition seat held by Chiam See Tong since 1984 was also hotly contested by PAP's Sitoh Yih Pin.

Workers' Party fielded a very young team in Ang Mo Kio GRC, with candidates mostly born after 1965, to compete with the flagship PAP team led by Lee Hsien Loong.^[52] On 29 April 2006, Lee referred to his opponents at Ang Mo Kio GRC as "敢死队" (suicide squad) adding that even the bookies would not take bets on the outcome in that constituency contest.^[53] In response, Low Thia Kiang of the WP said that it was better to be a "敢死队" (suicide squad) and not a "怕死队" (squad that is scared to die). WP's candidate Yaw Shin Leong added that his team-mates and himself were mentally prepared to lose but they were not push-overs.^[54]

[edit] James Gomez saga

Main article: James Gomez

Controversy arose during the election surrounding the application for a minority-race candidate certificate by James Gomez of Workers' Party. On the 24 April, Gomez went to the Elections Department to fill up the minority-race candidate certificate application form accompanied by the chairperson Sylvia Lim. Instead of handing in the application form to election official, Gomez slipped the form in his bag and went off for an interview. At the time, Sylvia Lim had gone to a waiting area and did not witness the event.

On the eve of Nomination Day, James Gomez went to collect his minority-race candidate certificate claiming he had submitted the application form. After failing to get the certificate, Gomez warned an elections officer of the "consequences". At 1pm that day, an Elections Department staff called Gomez and told him that he did not submit the Indian and minority candidate certificate form. During the call, which was recorded, Gomez changed his story and said that he would get back to them. When the media asked him about the issue, Gomez initially refused to discuss about the issue, but later conceded.^[55] Following two days of dispute between both sides, the Elections Department was able to produce video evidence showing that James Gomez did not submit the application form; a day later, James Gomez apologised to the Elections Department at a Worker's Party rally saying he was distracted by his busy schedule.^[56]

During the controversy, PAP raised questions about the credibility of Gomez. He was accused of attempting to discredit the Elections Department by claiming they misplaced the form. Two PAP leaders Wong Kan Seng and Lee Kuan Yew called Gomez a "liar" and Lee dared Gomez to sue him and Wong.^[16] George Yeo (PAP) also suggested that the Worker's Party should sack Gomez and field a four-member team for the five-member Group Representation Constituency. This was rejected by Low who asserted that PAP was trying to divert public and media attention from main election issues.^[57]

[edit] Party political broadcast

On both 29 April 2006 and 4 May 2006, the four contesting parties made their political broadcasts over television and radio in the four official languages — the English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil languages. Each party was given an allocated time based on the number of candidates it fielded. The People's Action Party (PAP) was given 12 minutes with 84 candidates fielded, the Workers' Party (WP) and Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) were given 4.5 minutes each with 20 candidates fielded, and the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) was given 2.5 minutes with 7 candidates fielded. The SDP was represented by Chee Siok Chin, the Workers' Party by Sylvia Lim on the first broadcast and by Tan Hui Hua on the second broadcast, the SDA by Chiam See Tong on both broadcasts, with the PAP by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on the first broadcast and by PAP chairman Lim Boon Heng on the second broadcast.^[58]

[edit] Debate on housing and lift upgrading

The upgrading of public housing, including the Lift Upgrading Programme (LUP), was a major issue in this election. As in previous elections, PAP had tied the scheduling of housing upgrades to the number of votes the party received in the election. The PAP argued that government was successful in raising the standard of living in the country, and those who supported its various policies, including the upgrading, should be given priority. In the hotly contested Aljunied GRC, George Yeo (PAP) placed lift upgrading the "top of [his] priority list" so that the lift would stop on every floor in as many blocks as possible.^[59] Sylvia Lim (WP) accused the PAP of being selective in its upgrading programmes, arguing that this was a divisive policy.^[60]

[edit] Large turnout at opposition election rallies

The election featured large turnouts at some of the election rallies of the opposition parties, which was unheard of since the 1980s. A report by Malaysian press The Star estimated that around 10,000 people attended the Workers' Party rally on 30 April at Hougang.^[61] At the last rally of the Workers' Party at Serangoon Stadium on 5 May, the audience filled up most of the field and even spilled outside the stadium. However the local media did not report on the large turnout at all, this prompted widespread criticisms on the credibility of the Singapore media on local political issues.

The PAP dismissed the significance of the crowds, suggesting that crowd size would not necessarily translate into votes.^[61]

A large number of supporters turn up at the last Worker's Party Rally for Aljunied GRC, filling up much of the field in Serangoon Stadium.

[edit] Election results

[edit] Summary

This electoral map shows the result of the election with the PAP winning 82 of the 84 seats.

[edit] Full results