After nine days of intense election campaigning, with lots of barbs and analogies involving animals, food and ships, the key issues that have surfaced are of national concerns that pull voters in different directions.

The ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) is banking on its performance in the past 50 years as well as its promise to work with Singaporeans to secure the future, framing the polls as one of national significance because of the urgency of leadership renewal.

Indeed, Singapore’s fourth-generation leadership — including the next Prime Minister — will take shape after the new cohort of Members of Parliament (MPs) is elected. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong even provided the names of those who could be in that team during his lunch-time rally on Tuesday.

“It’s starting to come together, but I need more, you need more, so this election, I’m adding more. People say jia you (add oil), but here, it’s jia liao, add more substance,” he said, referring to new PAP candidates who will make up the core leadership team.

But yet, this election is also very much a referendum of the PAP’s past four years. Over that span, major policy changes to improve housing affordability, curb the inflow of foreign workers and ease public transport woes were undertaken.

Will the electorate reward the party for the improvements, trusting that it will continue to provide astute leadership?

The main opposition Worker’s Party (WP) has argued that the policy changes were a result of having more Opposition MPs in Parliament after 2011, when it won six seats. PAP leaders have rubbished this claim, saying the party’s shift to the left in social and economic policies to move towards a more inclusive society began almost a decade ago.

Nonplussed by this assertion, the WP has upped the stakes, and has urged Singaporeans to elect at least 20 opposition MPs, up from the current seven, so that it can offer more checks and balances against the ruling party. The WP is contesting 28 seats in this election — a first in which all seats will be see electoral battles. WP chief Low Thia Khiang has stressed that numbers matter if the Opposition wants to make a difference. “The number counts, let’s face the facts. Because I was in Parliament for the past 20 years. I spoke on a lot of issues … Nothing has happened. When I moved out in 2011, when we got seven elected MPs, you see the changes,” he said.

Other Opposition parties — and there are many more in this election — are also making similar calls, promising to be the voice of voters in Parliament and making the PAP Government work harder.

The PAP rejected such claims, with PM Lee calling this argument “perverse” and “upside down”. It would lead to an Opposition that is strengthened but incapable, he said. Other party leaders have also pointed to the PAP’s track record of being responsive to citizen’s needs over the decades.

They also dissected the various Opposition parties’ manifestos — which offer a range of policies from setting a minimum wage to more handouts and free healthcare — with PAP leaders asking who would foot the bill for these schemes.

“If it was really so simple, why do you think the PAP is not doing all these things?” asked PM Lee, who noted that Opposition parties intend to fund their policy proposals with higher taxes or tapping the reserves.

ELECTION ISSUES

Beyond the calls for continuity versus change, a few consistent messages have been hammered home that could also affect the vote.

Among the most cited issues is town council management, via the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) saga. The PAP has charged that the town council has serious financial problems, casting aspersions on the integrity and honesty of WP leaders.

The WP sought to explain during its rallies that the town council’s accounts are settled and the latest financial statements have been submitted in time to the Government. How much resonance this issue will have with voters, many of whom have been left confused by its numerous twists and turns, remains unclear.

Both the PAP and WP appeared keen to move on from the topic midway through the election — although there was a sideshow on the Punggol East accounts — and focus more on national issues.

Some issues that have stuck are the perennial bread-and-butter concerns about the rising cost of living and the 6.9 million population figure which will not go away. The Government trotted it out as a planning parameter in a White Paper in 2013, but it has remained a lightning rod for criticism ever since.

The Government has slowed the flow of foreigners into the city-state and has introduced schemes to give Singaporeans greater priority in certain areas, but the Opposition continues to train a spotlight on it, and the fact that it remains a hot-button issue makes it clear that citizens feel a deep unease about immigration.

Several candidates have also touched on the challenges facing low-to-middle income Singaporeans, and Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) chief Chee Soon Juan, who is contesting his first election in 14 years, has been among the most quoted. Less shrill than before, and not as seized by civil rights issues, Dr Chee has been getting more of a hearing this time around. A slick social media campaign, plus a soft-focus video, have helped in no small measure. They have helped, he says, counter mainstream media reports about him. The line waiting for him to sign their books after his lunchtime rally on Monday paid testimony to this. But not all are ready to discard their view of him, a view formed by a past in which he was known more for heckling and civil disobedience campaigns.

As voters head to the ballot box tomorrow, with all the various campaign issues in mind, some may face an ideological dilemma. Will they vote for continuity, or for change? Will they vote for pragmatic concerns, or idealistic goals?

How they choose will show the PAP and the Opposition the kind of political system they want in Singapore.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Sue-Ann Chia is a senior correspondent with TODAY.