Predictability is the name of the game in Singapore’s elections.
The ruling People’s Action Party and its candidates always win handsomely. And while their margin of success is the envy of political parties and politicians the world over, every single point counts for the PAP. It is a sign of just how satisfied Singapore’s 3.5 million or so citizens are with the ruling party and a signal of whether longevity and legitimacy amount to the same thing.
But whoever gets to be the island’s president is meant to be above politics and not hold any political affiliation. In fact, one of the rules is that you can’t be a member of any political party on Nomination Day. Yet some Singaporeans are seeing this election as a referendum on the ruling party because many of them are increasingly fed up with the way candidates have been selected.