Nomination Opens For Singapore General Election

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah SINGAPORE, Sept 1 (Bernama) -- Nomination opened Tuesday for the Singapore general election, polling for which is on Sept 11. Candidates for the general election have to formally submit their nomination papers by noon at nine centres on the island. Besides the ruling People's Action Party (PAP), eight other parties are also expected to nominate candidates to contest the election. These are the Workers Party (WP), Singapore People's Party (SPP), Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), National Solidarity Party (NSP), Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA), Reform Party (RP), Singaporeans First (SF) and People's Power Party (PPP). Singaporeans will vote to elect 89 Members of Parliament in 29 constituencies in the country's first general election after the death of its founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in March this year. This will be the third general election for Prime Minister and current PAP secretary-general Lee Hsien Loong. In the last general election, in 2011, PAP retained power by winning 81 of the then 87 parliamentary seats. -- BERNAMA