Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong held a dialogue session with grassroots leaders at ITE Central on the morning of March 14, one day after the report on the new electoral boundaries was released.
The release of the report has sparked speculation that General Election 2020 is likely to happen soon.
And the one who holds the key to the answer is none other than Lee.
Lee took to his Facebook to share his considerations on when to hold GE 2020 after the dialogue session.
Lee: We have 2 choices
He said that Singapore has two choices in light of the Covid-19 situation which has both health and economic impact on the people.
"We have two choices. Either hope and pray that things will stabilise before the end of the term so that we can hold elections under more normal circumstances – but we have no certainty of that.
Or else call elections early, knowing that we are going into a hurricane, to elect a new government with a fresh mandate and a full term ahead of it, which can work with Singaporeans on the critical tasks at hand."
Exposing voters to risk of contracting Covid-19
In response, the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) again urged the government to focus on the containment of Covid-19 first.
In a video fronted by PSP's secretary-general, Tan Cheng Bock, the party released an official statement in response on the new electoral boundaries.
Tan was a former Member of Parliament at Ayer Rajah constituency (SMC) before it was being absorbed into West Coast GRC for 26 years. He is also a retired general practitioner.
Tan questioned the wisdom of holding GE amidst Covid-19 and to potentially expose Singaporeans to the risk of transmission at rallies and polling stations:
"Is it wise to hold a General Election in the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic? We are exposing more than 2.6 million voters to the virus on polling day because voting is compulsory and everyone must go to the polling stations to cast their votes. During the campaign period, there will be rallies and many large group election activities being held. Is this a risk we want to take? There is this potential mass exposure to the virus. So, holding a General Election at this time should not be considered. We should put politics aside. Take care of our people’s health and welfare first."
PSP offers 3 options of when to hold GE
Instead, PSP provided three options for the government to consider as alternatives to holding the election during the Covid-19 outbreak.
The first option is to postpone the pending election. Both the United States and the United Kingdom had postponed their local elections before, said PSP.
The second option proposed is to call for GE only when Covid-19 is "no more a crisis".
The last option is to call for GE at the end of the term in April 2021, which is the deadline to hold this GE.
If the Covid-19 crisis is not resolved by then, the PSP suggested that President Halimah Yaacob can choose to exercise her power and form a caretaker government consisting of some of the current Members of Parliament and call for fresh elections when Covid-19 is no longer a crisis.
You can watch Tan's full address here:
Top photo by Rachel Ng and via Lee Hsien Loong's Facebook