Singaporeans wearing masks and gloves will vote on Friday.
Singapore:
Singaporeans wearing masks and gloves will vote on Friday under the cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is driving the city-state economy to its deepest recession and has raised employment concerns at the election center .
In power since independence in 1965, the ruling People’s Action Party is expected to lead Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to another comfortable and probably final victory.
Son of Lee Kuan Yew, founding leader of Singapore, Lee has served as Prime Minister since 2004, but at 68, he has already announced his intention to retire in the coming years.
Considered a measure of approval for both the government’s response to the coronavirus crisis and the next generation of leaders, the survey results will be closely watched as even small changes in the popularity of the PAP can lead to changes major policies.
When concerns about immigration and jobs exploded in 2011, the PAP garnered a record 60% of the vote and tightened international hiring rules to respond to voter sensitivity.
And as the trading and banking hub in Asia emerges from the lockdown to cope with its deepest recession, these concerns are once again in the foreground.
Despite the economic turbulence, Singapore remains a small rock of rich stability, prosperous as a financial, commercial and transport center for Southeast Asia.
Sanitized
There are only 2.65 million voters and election organizers are counting on a quick, rigorous and hygienic vote to minimize the risk of coronavirus infections.
Since the easing of the lockout last month, the number of new daily cases has dropped to double digits last week, excluding migrant workers living in dormitories where infection rates have been much higher.
Wearing a mask is compulsory in public. And voters should not spend more than five minutes at a polling station, where they will self-scan their identity cards, disinfect their hands and put on disposable gloves before receiving a ballot.
The counting of samples is expected shortly after the closing of polling stations at 8 p.m. (1200 GMT) with final results expected on Saturday morning.
Singapore is not the first country in Asia to hold elections during the pandemic – South Korea held parliamentary elections in April – but its compulsory ballot is subject to strict conditions.
The citizens each received a recommended voting window.
COVID-19 and quarantined patients cannot vote, but a mobile voting team will bring the ballot box to the rooms of Singaporeans who have recently returned from abroad and are isolated in hotels.
Those who do not feel well, such as a cough or fever, can vote during a special hour when election officials will wear full protective gear and the surfaces will be cleaned after each poll.
The virus epidemic also constrained the campaigns because the candidates had to respect the rules of social distancing which limit the groups to five, avoid shaking hands or bumping into fists. Mass rallies – often attended by thousands of people – have been banned.
The city-state has one of the lowest COVID-19 mortality rates in the world, and was first widely praised for its efforts to contain COVID-19.
But the massive outbreaks that followed in the cramped dormitories of migrant workers tarnished this early success and persuaded the government to keep schools and businesses closed longer.
Lawrence Wong, a PAP lawmaker who spearheaded the response to the city-state virus, said the government had made a “huge effort” to care for migrant workers and lower infection rates outside of dormitories and protected Singaporeans.
“Singaporeans will have to judge,” Wong said Wednesday.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
