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Singapore’s peculiar elector system

May 07, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
Singapore goes to the poll on May 7 to choose a new legislature for a five-year period. Singapore is a multi-ethnic state similar to Guyana but unlike other such states, it has succeeded in managing its ethnic problem with relative peace allowing for maximum development.
Every group enjoys a higher standard of living than groups in other ethnically polarized societies. Credit for the relative calm, peace and harmony in the society goes to its founding leader and former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) who kept a tight shift that has been continued by his two successors with the current PM being his son, Lee Hsien Loong, who serves as mentor minister and his immediate successor is senior minister.
There is no doubt about the electoral outcome as the ruling party will triumph again as it has done ever since Singapore was created and held its first elections in 1965. The real question is whether the ruling PAP will win all the seats. The opposition controlled two seats in the dissolved assembly. The new parliament will have 87 seats and there are 2.3 million voters. Unlike most other countries, voting is mandatory.
The city state has a peculiar electoral system and many people believe the electoral campaign is not really free as in modern democracies. There are 12 single-member constituencies and the other 75 seats are divided up into 14 Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) which opponents describe as a ploy to deny them representation. The GRC is a vote bloc that elects several candidates together usually with a popular candidate like Lee KY.  As I discovered in an informal survey, the elder statesman is extremely popular, more than his son and President Nathan, an Indian and his college friend. The PM is also leading a GRC that will sweep several MPs into office.
For the first time, there will be a three way contest which makes it likely for PAP to make a clean sweep. But the ruling party does not like the idea of governing without an opposition to give a semblance of democratic debate in parliament.
A few of the seats do not have any opposition and have been declared won by the PAP – from one GRC. The 86 year elder statesman LKY has won re-election but an unprecedented 82 of the 87 are being contested. The opposition parties have avoided fighting each other and are seeking mainly to win space for “alternative voices” in Parliament. They hope to win many seats to have an effective opposition to have a “a First-World Parliament”.  But that is hardly likely given that the system is stacked against them and the ruling party has done an excellent job.
Vishnu Bisram

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