The Economist - USA (2020-06-27)

26 TheEconomistJune 27th 2020

1

“T

his generalelection will be like no

other that we have experienced,” Sin-

gapore’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong,

declared this week, announcing that the

city-state would go to the polls on July 10th.

Procedures may be a little different from

usual, given the continuing outbreak of co-

vid-19. But the outcome will be just like the

previous 12 national elections: the ruling

People’s Action Party (pap) will romp home

with a huge majority of seats.

The pap is a slick political machine

which has held power since before inde-

pendence in 1965. Its share of the popular

vote has never dipped below 60%. Even at

its lowest ebb, in 2011, the party retained

93% of the elected seats in Parliament. Last

time around, in 2015, it won almost 70% of

the popular vote, perhaps boosted by the

death earlier that year of Lee Kuan Yew, Sin-

gapore’s first prime minister and the in-

cumbent’s father.

The pap’s popularity stems in large part

from its competence. It has presided over

decades of rapid economic growth, with

little of the corruption that plagues neigh-

bouring countries. But the party is too thor-

ough to leave its prospects up to voters. It

has devised an electoral system that makes

life difficult for its opponents. In most con-

stituencies a party must field a slate of four

or five candidates to compete, with the

winning slate taking all the seats. The need

in such seats to find multiple well-known

candidates, pay for all the deposits (at al-

most $10,000 a pop) and win over a much

larger pool of voters puts a heavy burden on

opposition parties. In fact, only one such

constituency—Aljunied—is not in the

pap’s hands, having fallen to the Workers’

Party in 2011.

The agencies that draw electoral dis-

tricts and supervise the vote are not inde-

pendent, but answer to the prime minister.

Exacting rules govern everything from the

size and placement of signs to a ban on neg-

ative campaigning. Candidates must not

say anything “that may cause racial or reli-

gious tensions or affect social cohesion”.

The rules will be even tighter than nor-

mal this year because of the coronavirus.

Rallies are banned, which is a blow to the

opposition, which usually counts on big

jamborees to fire up cautious voters. In-

stead, up to five members of a party can

campaign together on “walkabouts”. Each

member of the group must stay a metre

away from the others and from the public,

to limit potential contagion. The govern-

ment will also help candidates to stream

online pitches to voters. Campaigning on

television and radio is strictly limited, but

that did not prevent six ministers, includ-

ing Mr Lee, from giving televised speeches

earlier this month outlining the pap’s vi-

sion—nothing to do with the election, just

part of the fight against covid-19.

The biggest hindrance to the opposi-

tion, however, is the perpetual stifling of

public debate. The constitution lists no

fewer than eight different reasons why Par-

liament might limit freedom of speech,

and it has made eager use of them. Since

the previous election, the government has

strengthened laws on harassment and con-

tempt of court and dreamed up a new law to

expunge online statements it deems false:

An election in Singapore

Thirteenth time lucky

SINGAPORE

The ruling party leaves even less to chance than usual

Asia

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