Polls open in Singapore general election

SINGAPORE – Polling stations opened Saturday for Singapore’s most hotly contested general election in decades, with the opposition seeking to erode the dominance of the People’s Action Party
(PAP).

There are 2.2 million voters eligible to elect members of parliament for 82 of the 87 seats after one five-seat district was won in a walkover by a PAP team led by the republic’s founding father Lee Kuan
Yew.

His son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, is leading the PAP into an election for the second time since becoming head of government in 2004.

The opposition won only two of the 84 seats in the 2006 election but is aiming to grab more this time by tapping into voters’ gripes over issues such as the rising cost of living and a huge influx of immigrants in recent years.