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| Sunday, 7 May 2006 |
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Singapore goes to the polls May 06 (AFP) Singaporeans cast their votes Saturday in a general election seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who was seeking his first mandate as head of government against a rejuvenated opposition. After an occasionally virulent campaign, some 1.2 million voters in the politically regimented city-state were eligible to cast their ballots for 47 contested seats from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm (0000 to 1200 GMT). Results were expected by late Saturday. The right-wing People's Action Party (PAP), in power since 1959, has already won 37 uncontested seats and needs just six more to form the majority in the 84-seat legislature. It held all but two of the seats in the former British colony's last parliament. Lee, 54, son of Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew, 82, appealed for a strong mandate almost two years after inheriting the job from Goh Chok Tong, 64, who stepped down in August 2004 in a pre-arranged leadership reshuffle. "There is so much more which can be done, which must be done, and I ask for a strong personal mandate from you, a vote from you, so that my team and I can work together and do our best to serve you for the next five years and beyond that," Lee said at a final campaign rally late Friday. Stressing the PAP's economic track record, he disclosed that gross
domestic product grew by "more than 10 percent" in the first quarter,
topping the earlier estimate of 9.1 percent. Official figures will be
released next week. |
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