In Singapore, whenever an election looms, talk is never about whether the ruling party will lose power. Rather, attention centres on how much or little support the opposition can prise from the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) firm grasp to advance its chances.
With the new electoral boundaries published this week ahead of what pundits have predicted will be a May election, all sides are deciding whom to field where. But for the opposition parties, it is a more fraught task as constituencies they had long been eyeing and tilling for votes have been redrawn, and they lack the formidable party machinery of the PAP to redirect resources in double quick time.