Singapore Elections This Year

The financial crisis that is gripping the world has caused Singapore to go into recession. With a recession on, it comes as a surprise to many that there is talk about an election this year. A speech by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew may give a window into the thinking of the Singapore government.

One of the main weapons the ruling PAP government has against this recession has been Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. Just take a look at how many speeches the man has been giving lately and you can guess that the Singapore government believe that the old man is their best chance to maintain confidence in Singapore.

On Friday, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said that the optimistic scenario for Singapore is that we will come out of this crisis in two or three years. The worst case scenario will be four to six years. If this is truly what the PAP believes, then it would make sense on the election talk this year.

Even if you take the optimistic scenario Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said, the time period will still be beyond the due date of the next general elections. That is the ‘best’ case scenario. If that is the case, it makes sense to have the elections now instead of waiting 1-2 years like they can.

So despite Mas Selamat's escape, losing billions in Citi, terrible GDP numbers, being in the 3rd recession in 10 years; I will be blogging about the Singapore elections this year.