General Election - Coming Soon - 11th September

[JR8]

No risks, no drama, no change.

Hence why else the early election call.

p.s. was discussing with wife earlier how only tactily-frightened govts tend to call early elections. Well i don't know. But what is the reason, the real plausible one?


---- further point. Elections costs billions to run. These are a $tax/burden on the electorate.... for whom they are meant to directly benefit. So, why the early election? There must be a credible stated reason.

[therat]

Singapore election spending is cap at $4.00 per voter

Quote from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore ... tion,_2015

There are a total of 2,460,484 electors, and eligible voters
Quote from straits time (not sure whether posting the link is allow or not)
Topic: Revised voter rolls now certified; open for public inspection

Base on above the total allow spending is
2460484 * $4 = $9 841 936.00

Not even billion

[bgd]

No risks, no drama, no change.

Hence why else the early election call.

p.s. was discussing with wife earlier how only tactily-frightened govts tend to call early elections. Well i don't know. But what is the reason, the real plausible one?


---- further point. Elections costs billions to run. These are a $tax/burden on the electorate.... for whom they are meant to directly benefit. So, why the early election? There must be a credible stated reason.

Isn't it just a tactic to maximise the chance of re-election? Govts will call at the time they think they have the most chance of winning, or most chance of winning well in this case. I guess now is a good time, just post the SG50 celebrations.

[Addadude]

Post SG50 celebrations and the loss of LKY. But also because 'in uncertain times, the country needs a steady, trusted hand at the wheel." I expect them to dial up global economic uncertainty and emphasise that now is not the time to 'experiment' with 'unproven' leaders. They did this exact same thing back 2001 to great effect.

[Barnsley]

Post SG50 celebrations and the loss of LKY. But also because 'in uncertain times, the country needs a steady, trusted hand at the wheel." I expect them to dial up global economic uncertainty and emphasise that now is not the time to 'experiment' with 'unproven' leaders. They did this exact same thing back 2001 to great effect.

A lot more media is available now to the public , could be more difficult to control the agenda this time around.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Actually, with China currently taking centre stage on the world's financial pages, and the subsequent shockwave currently washing up on everybody's shores, I feel their timing is right to try it again. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if that is what precipitated it.

[Addadude]

Actually, with China currently taking centre stage on the world's financial pages, and the subsequent shockwave currently washing up on everybody's shores, I feel their timing is right to try it again. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if that is what precipitated it.

Yep.

[bgd]

Actually, with China currently taking centre stage on the world's financial pages, and the subsequent shockwave currently washing up on everybody's shores, I feel their timing is right to try it again. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if that is what precipitated it.

PAP engineering global financial insecurity to win another term? Feasible.

[sundaymorningstaple]

That's not what I said, but I like it.

[curiousgeorge]

[serious]
As a - ahem - new citizen, I will of course to be obliged to vote.

I can Bing for "Singapore election manifesto" and get results for SDA, WP, PAP, RP.

But is there no centralised resource for finding all of them? A news or govt website hiding somewhere?
And aside from Party manifestos, what about MP/SMC/GRC manifestos?

Of course, manifestos are about as binding as wet toilet paper, but you know, it would be at least nice to pretend to make the effort here.

[/serious]

[JR8]

Actually, with China currently taking centre stage on the world's financial pages, and the subsequent shockwave currently washing up on everybody's shores, I feel their timing is right to try it again. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if that is what precipitated it.

Yep.

Presuming few people can discover how much value their CPF has lost this past few months...

[JR8]

Isn't it just a tactic to maximise the chance of re-election? Govts will call at the time they think they have the most chance of winning, or most chance of winning well in this case. I guess now is a good time, just post the SG50 celebrations.

But then I think you have to turn that around; what is the chance of the PAP not winning? Not very likely I'd imagine (right?).
So is it being taken to the next level; winning without losing a single seat. Thus illustrating (again) that there is no credible alternative?

The curious thing is I am used to governments calling elections early only when they are playing on a very transient advantage. They do so as they fear that otherwise they might well lose. But again, that's not the situation in SG.

[singapore eagle]

The curious thing is I am used to governments calling elections early only when they are playing on a very transient advantage.

You can look at PM Lee's national day rally speech to see the PAP capitalising on the transient advantage of LKY's passing and SG50. The pitch to the electorate is clearly "Look how far the PAP has brought you, vote PAP again."

When you factor in the not insignificant advantage that the PAP is going to take from the WP's difficulties managing the AHEPTC, plus really a general sense that life has got better these last 2-3 years, I can see how the strategists decided that we're at the point where the PAP is least likely to lose further seats and may even increase its vote share.

[bgd]

But then I think you have to turn that around; what is the chance of the PAP not winning? Not very likely I'd imagine (right?).
So is it being taken to the next level; winning without losing a single seat. Thus illustrating (again) that there is no credible alternative?

The curious thing is I am used to governments calling elections early only when they are playing on a very transient advantage. They do so as they fear that otherwise they might well lose. But again, that's not the situation in SG.

In this case it's about maximising advantage. They will win, but they want to win well. I reckon their analysts have factored in the recent events and believe that now is the optimum time to get the biggest share of the vote. Just good politics.

[nakatago]

In this case it's about maximising advantage. They will win, but they want to win well. I reckon their analysts have factored in the recent events and believe that now is the optimum time to get the biggest share of the vote. Just good politics.

I can't shake the feeling that these people don't just want to win, they want to win BIG and ground their enemies to the ground. It's like a zero-sum game for them.

It's not enough to get ahead of the guy; you have to make sure he doesn't even make it to the finish line or compete in any future contests.