Reuters – People cast their ballots at a polling station under a public housing apartment block in Singapore May …
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singaporeans voted on Saturday in the city-state's most hotly contested parliamentary election since independence, although Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's long-ruling People's Action Party (PAP) is almost certain to retain power.
Voting ended at 8 p.m. (1200 GMT) without any major incidents and results are expected to start coming in within a few hours.
Analysts say the PAP should easily win, albeit with a smaller share of the popular vote. At the last election in 2006, it won about 67 percent of the vote and 82 of 84 seats.
This year the opposition is contesting 82 of 87 seats in parliament, the most ever, with the PAP returned unopposed from one five-seat constituency. In 2006, just over half the seats were contested.
"Given the strength of the opposition slate, we expect an electoral swing of 7-12 percentage points from the PAP," Prasenjit Basu, Daiwa Capital Markets regional chief economist, said in a note to clients.
"The enhanced opposition representation in the new parliament will give a substantive new voice to dissent, providing for greater debate on key policy issues."
The Elections Department said an opposition party had made several complaints, including an allegation that a PAP candidate had updated her Facebook page on Friday, contravening a 24-hour "cooling off" period before the start of polls when parties were not allowed to campaign.
"We had responded to National Solidarity Party that they may wish to lodge a police report," a spokeswoman for the department said.
As at 5 p.m. (0900 GMT), 1.85 million Singaporeans, or 83.5 percent of eligible voters, had cast their votes, the department said in a separate statement.
Voting is compulsory in Singapore, a former British colony which in 1965 became a republic after breaking up with neighbouring Malaysia.
Opinion polls are not published in Singapore and exit polls are banned, but an online poll conducted by Australian group UMR Research earlier this week indicated that the PAP's share of the vote may fall to 61 percent.
Voting ended at 8 p.m. (1200 GMT) without any major incidents and results are expected to start coming in within a few hours.
Analysts say the PAP should easily win, albeit with a smaller share of the popular vote. At the last election in 2006, it won about 67 percent of the vote and 82 of 84 seats.
This year the opposition is contesting 82 of 87 seats in parliament, the most ever, with the PAP returned unopposed from one five-seat constituency. In 2006, just over half the seats were contested.
"Given the strength of the opposition slate, we expect an electoral swing of 7-12 percentage points from the PAP," Prasenjit Basu, Daiwa Capital Markets regional chief economist, said in a note to clients.
"The enhanced opposition representation in the new parliament will give a substantive new voice to dissent, providing for greater debate on key policy issues."
The Elections Department said an opposition party had made several complaints, including an allegation that a PAP candidate had updated her Facebook page on Friday, contravening a 24-hour "cooling off" period before the start of polls when parties were not allowed to campaign.
"We had responded to National Solidarity Party that they may wish to lodge a police report," a spokeswoman for the department said.
As at 5 p.m. (0900 GMT), 1.85 million Singaporeans, or 83.5 percent of eligible voters, had cast their votes, the department said in a separate statement.
Voting is compulsory in Singapore, a former British colony which in 1965 became a republic after breaking up with neighbouring Malaysia.
Opinion polls are not published in Singapore and exit polls are banned, but an online poll conducted by Australian group UMR Research earlier this week indicated that the PAP's share of the vote may fall to 61 percent.
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