SINGAPORE: Heading into his first General Election as leader of the ruling party, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Saturday (Apr 12) that he does not have a target vote share in mind and that he is expecting fierce competition across all wards.
“I’m sure the candidates across Singapore, across every constituency, will have the same attitude and mindset, because at the national level, I have no doubt this will be a fiercely contested election,” he said, during a news conference announcing the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC slate.
He added that “there are no longer any safe seats” across the electoral map, as every seat can be hotly contested and “anything can happen in a campaign”.
The opposition has contested every seat in the last two general elections.
Even in his own ward of Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, Mr Wong said he does not take the contest lightly, acknowledging the Singapore Democratic Party’s intent to field a team there.
He said his team will still have to work hard to fight for every vote, and to win the trust of residents there, something which “we have built up over many years”.
“I don’t take the view that just because I’m here as prime minister, it’s a sure win, or we will surely get above national average, as some of you have asked me about,” he said.
He added that he does not assume the PAP will automatically win the upcoming election either.
“I don’t come in with an expectation of a target or a particular figure in terms of what we might get in vote share for the party or for the GRC,” said Mr Wong.
The PAP won the last general election with 61.24 per cent of the votes, down from 69.9 per cent in 2015.
“All I will do is do my best as party leader, as anchor for the GRC, and I expect the rest of my team to do the same,” said Mr Wong.
“We will, at the end, after doing our best, respect the outcome of the elections based on the decisions of Singaporeans.”
